Optical Illusion
by megster1992
Summary: "Things are never as they seem." AH. AU. Bellice.
1. Chapter 1

**The beginning of a new story...it should be a good one. :)**

**To name a few things first hand. One, this is another Bellice story, though it starts off...Jabella? I'm not sure what the name is for Jake/Bella. Secondly, this is a fiction story, so I was able to make up a few things. Lastly, this is an All human story which means there is no mention of shapeshifters, vampires, or werewolves.**

**Without further ado, please enjoy this story and remember that I do not own the Twilight Saga.**

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><p><strong>Chapter One<strong>

"Why do we have to move to Forks again?" Emmett asked from beside me, taking out one of the ear buds from his ears as he looked up from his laptop, pausing whatever rap crap he was listening to. Before this he had been bobbing his head to his music, the ear buds thumping loudly in his ear, which, of course, meant he had the music up way too loud. Typical Emmett.

"Because, Emmett," Mom said from the passenger seat, turning to face her son with a soft smile. "The will specifically stated that we would lose the house if we didn't move into it right away."

"What would be so bad about that?" Emmett asked, shrugging. "I mean…why do you want to uproot us from San Francisco, where the sun is out every day and all our friends are at, to Forks, a town where…"

"It's not?" I offered to Emmett. "Really, Mom, all of our friends are back in San Francisco. Couldn't we have, I don't know, let the house be sold?"

Dad cleared his throat from the driver seat, looking at us through the rear view mirror with a stern expression. "You know why we couldn't sell the house. This was my childhood home."

"Yeah, back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth," Emmett muttered from the backseat, giving me a half-smile. I tried to hide my chuckle as I looked away, trying to keep my gaze away the front seat, hoping that I wouldn't get into too much trouble for laughing at Emmett's joke.

Thankfully, since my parents were cool and they knew about Emmett's sense of humor, an aspect about him that I've begun to question the origins, given that both of our parents are _not_ funny; though they think they are, they chuckled as well.

"I'm not that old, Emmett," Dad said, rolling his eyes.

"Oh, right, sorry. I meant the Dark Ages. My bad," Emmett snickered before he let out a sigh and looked out of his window. "At least the weather isn't that bad. Remember when we came up here for Grandma's birthday and it was a torrential downpour the whole time?" he asked as he turned to me. "God, I'm going to very much miss San Francisco's weather."

I nodded to myself as I stared at the clouds out of my window, surprised to see the sun shining through. Forks was known for being the rainiest place in the continental US, which meant that there would be little sun. Being raised in sunny California meant that I, along with Emmett, preferred eighty degree weather and clear skies over fifty degree temperatures and flood-threatening rain.

"'Course, you might miss more than the weather. Weren't you talking to Nahuel?" Emmett teased.

Immediately a blush crept across my cheek as I bit my lip and looked away. Nahuel was a surfer in San Francisco, he was also in my English and Math classes, so we got to talk a lot during school, but during the summer we had really begun to hit it off. I could tell Nahuel liked me, given the way he held his body as we talked and the way he laughed at my jokes, and I knew he knew I liked him. We were _this_ close to actually talk about going out to dinner or something when Dad got the dreadful call from one of his childhood friends.

It was hard to say whether I was pissed or devastated that my grandfather's heart gave out while he was driving, crashing into a tree that killed my grandmother afterwards, pissed because I wasn't able to go out with Nahuel and devastated because, well, I lost my grandparents.

"Bella, I thought you told me there weren't any boys you liked," Dad asked, raising an eyebrow as he drove the Vibe, looking at me from the rear-view mirror. "You never told me that you liked Nahuel. You know I worked with his father on the force."

My blush grew even more prominent. "Dad," I groaned, trying to hide my evident embarrassment.

Both of my parents chuckled, my attempt to hide my blush backfiring, before my mom turned around in her seat and gave me a wink. "Your dad was just joking, sweetie."

"Damn right I was," Dad said, nodding. "You're fifteen, Bells, way too young to be thinking about dating boys."

"Charlie," Mom said as she turned to her husband, placing her hand on his right shoulder, giving him a love-filled expression. "Your daughter's growing up, you're going to have to face that fact, and part of her growing up means that…she's going to date boys."

"Not if I have anything to say about it," Dad grumbled as he turned off of the highway and into a neighborhood, one I recognized from my many trips to see Grandma and Grandpa Swan, only I was surprised to see that the public basketball court was in use.

It was a good surprise, though, I had to admit.

Eight boys were playing basketball, some wearing shirts and others not, obviously to differentiate what team they were on, and the ones without shirts, well, let's just say they did not disappoint. Granted, they were all different sizes and tones, but…I was starting to feel really good about Forks.

Maybe I wouldn't miss Nahuel as much as I thought I would.

A smile crept across my lips as Emmett leaned towards my window, looking at the basketball players and judging their game. He sucked in air as he watched one of the guys on the shirt team dunk the ball into the hoop, and he quickly snapped his head to the front.

"Dad, stop the car," he said, placing his hand on Dad's shoulder. "Please?"

Dad sighed and pulled to the side of the road, stopping the vibe before he turned to Emmett. "What's this about?"

Emmett shrugged as he undid his seat belt and placed his laptop in the seat between us. "I just want to shoot some hoops with those guys. They look pretty good. Do you mind?"

They _did_ look pretty good…and they could play basketball, too. "Yeah, can I get out of the car, too?"

Dad sighed and looked at Mom who chuckled and gave us a quick nod. "Garrett is probably about a half hour or an hour away, so we won't have any stuff to unpack until then. You have your phones on you, right?"

"Renée," Dad groaned, looking at the guys on the court who had stopped the game to look at our parked car.

"No, Charlie. They need to hang around with kids their own age, get to know people before they go to school on Monday," she said with a smile before turning back to us. "You kids have fun now."

"Thanks, Mom!" Emmett and I called out collectively as we got out of the Pontiac Vibe, waiting until they drove off before we walked onto the basketball court. The closer we got, the easier I could tell that the guys in Forks were, to say the least, good-looking.

Five of them were from the neighboring Native American reservation, given their short black hair and brown eyes, their skin a bronze color that many guys paid money for to achieve. They were each different; one was taller and lean, but still well-defined, another was a few inches shorter, but he made up for his height by his athletic build, almost as big as Emmett, and that was saying something, since my brother was the quarterback back at home. The two Native American's that were clothed were similar to these two, one was tall and slender and the other was shorter, only he was slightly bulkier than his teammate. The last shirtless Native American was clearly the youngest, because, despite his well-developed muscles and massive shoulders, he still had a hint of roundness to his face and a half-dimpled smile that he casted when my eyes locked with his.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and looked at the other three basketball players, trying to avert my gaze from this…guy. The last "skin" player was a white boy, who looked like my age, with messy, dirty blonde hair and baby blue eyes, a smile on his lips as he looked at me. The other white boy, one that was on the "shirt" team, had brown hair and brown eyes, and, thankfully, his smile only seemed friendly whereas the blond boy seemed like he was trying to be sultry.

The last basketball player was black, and he had short, frizzy black hair and a stud in his left ear, obviously thinking he was hot stuff, given the smirk he gave as he saw me looking at him.

Back at San Francisco, I didn't get this kind of reception with the boys; I had thought I was plain, but it was becoming apparent that I wasn't going to have that same experience here. I wasn't sure whether I liked that or not, but it was definitely something new.

"You got room for one more?" Emmett asked after what seemed like a couple of minutes of silence when really it was just a second.

One of the guys on the shirtless team, the one that was almost as big as Emmett, lifted his chin up a fraction of an inch and eyed my brother, as if he was sizing him up. "You're not from around here, are you?"

"Paul, are you stupid or something?" the guy next to him laughed, the one who was tall and lean but still defined, as was evident by his…appearance. "Isn't it obvious that they're Mr. and Mrs. Swan's grand kids?"

"How the hell would it be obvious?" Paul snapped to the kid who laughed at him.

The younger one that had caught my eye earlier rolled his eyes. "Don't mind Paul. He's got a temper. I'm Jacob Black."

"Emmett Swan," Emmett said before he nudged me with his elbow. "And this is Bella, my little sister."

I blushed as all eyes turned to me. "H-Hi," I said, looking away as a blush crept across my cheeks. Great job, Bella.

"Quil Ateara," the beefy Native American on the shirt team said, nodding.

The guy who laughed at Paul gave us a playful smile. "Jared Cameron, that's Paul Lahote."

"Oh, shut up," Paul grumbled, rolling his eyes. "I can speak for myself."

"Whatever, Paul," the last Native American boy said, tightening the ball under his arm as he gave a friendly smile. "Embry Call."

"Riley Biers," the guy with the brown hair said with a solemn expression. "My dad was the one who called your parents about…the accident."

Right. I remember that a Jason Biers called to inform Dad that his parents had died and that there needed to be a funeral.

"Jason's kid?" Emmett asked, raising an eyebrow

Riley nodded. "Yeah. I'm really sorry about that. Your grandparents were good people; they always said hi to us whenever we walked past."

"I lost my Grandpa a few months ago, so I know what you're going through, kind of," the last shirtless guy said, casting me a grin that he probably thought was sexy when in actuality it was goofy. "I'm Mike Newton."

"Tyler Crowley," the remaining kid said, smirking again as he looked at me up and down. "Where did you all live before you moved to dreary old Forks?"

Emmett laughed. "Glad we're not the only ones who think Forks is dreary."

Jacob shrugged before he casted a glance in my direction. "It grows on you."

I blushed again, looking at the asphalt under my feet as I tried to collect my thoughts. Damn that kid was good-looking. "We lived in San Francisco."

"Hey! A fellow Californian!" Mike laughed before throwing up a thumbs-up. "I was born and raised in Sacramento, but when I turned ten, my parents decided to move up north so they could start up a sporting goods store."

"That's cool," I said with a shrug. Did he think that just because he was raised in the same state that I was that it automatically made us "compatible"? What a joke.

"So what grades are you all in?" Jacob asked, flashing me another smile, his pearly whites contrasting beautifully against his russet skin. God, why was he so hot?

"Well, I'll be starting my senior year, and Bells is going to be starting her sophomore year."

Tyler grinned and took a step forward. "That's awesome, Bella. Paul and Jared are seniors, Embry and Riley are juniors, and the rest of us are sophomores. Maybe you'll be in our classes."

"Wait," Emmett said, raising an eyebrow. "I thought that there was a school on the reservation?"

I nodded to what Emmett said. "Yeah, I remember that our Dad said that he didn't have as much time to hang with his friends as he wanted to because they went to another school."

Jared chuckled. "You know school districts are money-hungry. About seven years ago they thought it would be better to combine the two schools to save money."

"Quillayute Valley High School," Quil said, crossing his arms. "They thought it would be better to rename the school entirely so that it didn't seem like they were favoring one school over the other."

Emmett scratched the back of his neck, obviously taking in too much for his brain to handle. Not that he was dumb; history just wasn't his favorite subject. "Did classes start already? We were supposed to start school on Monday back in San Francisco, but…"

"Two weeks ago," Mike said, nodding. "There haven't been any tests, I don't think, so you should be good for awhile."

"'Course, you'll probably have to meet with the Vice Principal or something," Tyler shrugged, "to help you get settled."

Emmett nodded before he eyed the basketball under Embry's arm, pointing at it after a second of silence. "Do you all play any sports? Based on your game, I'd say you do."

They all nodded, but Jacob was the one who opened his mouth to answer. "Jared and Riley are on the baseball team, Paul, Quil and Mike are on the football team with me and Tyler and Embry are on the basketball team, again, with me," he said with a grin, glancing in my direction again. That explained his body.

Paul raised an eyebrow, looking at Emmett up and down. "What about you? Do you play any sports?"

Emmett nodded. "I was quarterback back on the high school football team and a point-guard for the basketball team. I'd say I'm pretty good, too."

Paul crossed his arms and snorted. "I doubt that."

"You want to put money on it? Me and you, one on one?" Emmett asked, grinning from ear to ear. Oh, brother. I knew that my sibling had a thing for bets, and, judging from Paul's smirk, I'd guess that he was going to get his way.

"Embry, hand me the rock!" Paul said, turning to Embry with his hand open.

Embry, however, shook his head. "Actually, we need to get going. Sam's waiting for us in Seattle."

"Seattle?" I asked. "What would a bunch of teenagers do in Seattle?"

"Go to a club and meet chicks," Quil said with a chuckle.

Quil, Embry, Paul and this mysterious Sam person went to clubs to pick up chicks. Definitely not date-worthy.

Jared rolled his eyes. "I've got to get going, too. Kim wants me to get over to her house so we can watch Letters to Juliet."

Almost immediately Paul chortled before he imitated the sound of a whip cracking, using his hands to act as if he did have a whip.

"At least I don't get in fights with my girlfriend like you do, Paul," Jared returned with a smirk.

"At least I have a pair. Besides, make up sex is awesome and Leah will tell you the same thing," Paul said with a triumphant grin before Embry cleared his throat. "Well, we better get going."

Paul grabbed his shirt off of the ground the same time Jared did, playfully shoving him as they did so, before he walked off of the court with Embry and Quil. As Paul walked away, though, I noticed a large tattoo on his back. It appeared to be an ax or something like that, the handle going up his spine and the sharp, metal part pointing towards the direction of his left shoulder. Judging from Paul's behavior, even though I only knew him for a minute or two, I guessed that he was a violent type. At least, that's what the tattoo spoke to me about.

Jacob cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted something to them, something I didn't understand as it was in a different language. "You know it!" Quil called after them, lifting his fist in the air.

"Emmett, you can take my spot. It'll just be two on two, so it won't be a big game, but it'll still be good," Jacob said before he walked over to the bench, taking a seat and grabbing the water bottle that was on the ground, pouring some of it over his head.

Emmett fist-pumped the air before he took off his shirt, Riley handing him the ball. I decided to take this as an opportunity to get to know Jacob.

"Hey, Jacob," I said as I sat down next to him, smiling.

He grinned back, water still dripping off of his face and onto his stomach. I swallowed another lump in my throat as I noticed how it made his abs glisten, but instead I decided to focus on his smile. "Hey, Bella. You know, you can call me Jake. I'm usually not called by my full name."

"Oh, okay, Jake," I said before smiling. "So you're a sophomore?"

He nodded. "Yes, I am. Why? Do I look too young to be a sophomore?"

I scoffed. "You look too old to be a sophomore."

"Naw," he said with a laugh, shrugging. "I've just had an early growth spurt. I'm not going to grow anymore."

"I was talking about how…big you are."

"I'm not _that _big, you know. My coach actually wants me to get bigger for football season, but I think this is as big as I'm going to get." He cocked his head to the side then, and looked at me. "You know, you've got nice eyes."

Of course a blush crept across my cheeks, and, to avoid embarrassment, I bit my lip and looked away. "Th-thank you."

"Don't be shy about that, Bella. You're a pretty girl. I'm sure there were dozens of boys back in San Francisco lining up for you."

"Actu—" I was interrupted by the sound of my phone vibrating in my pocket. God damn it Dad! Talk about timing. "Excuse me for a moment," I said as I dug into my pocket for my phone, checking it to see that it was indeed my father that was calling. "Yeah, Dad?"

"_Garrett's at the house. Tell your brother that he needs to stop playing basketball and help us unpack. Same goes for you, young lady," _he said.

Wow, not even a hello. "Alright, I'll tell him," I said before I hung up and turned to Jake. "Sorry, I have to go and help my parents unpack."

Jake shrugged. "S'okay, Bella. We'll have more time to talk at school, I know we will." With those words, he gave me one final grin before he got up and grabbed his shirt from the ground.

"Emmett, we've got to go," I said as I got up off of the bench and walked towards my brother, watching Jake's back as he walked away from the court. God, even from behind it was obvious he was fit.

"Alright! My jeep is here!" he said before fist-pumping again. "Hey, I'll see you guys at school on Monday," he said as he waved to the guys he was playing with, grabbing his shirt. We headed home, then, and Emmett was pleased to see his large, white Jeep Wrangler in the driveway, a trailer attached to the end of it, filled with boxes.

"Garrett!" Emmett laughed as he walked towards the jeep and patted its side. "You brought her back safe and sound!"

Garrett, a friend of Dad's, offered to drive Emmett's jeep, and Dad's trailer, up to Forks so that we wouldn't have to hire someone to drive a moving truck from San Francisco. The only thing he wanted in return was a plane ticket back to San Francisco. "Of course, I did, Emmett. I know how much she means to you."

Quickly we took in the boxes and placed them in the room they belonged to, and I was thankful that Dad took time out during the week to go up to Seattle and buy new furniture for our rooms so that we didn't have to haul them up here with us. When we got done bringing all of the boxes in, Dad thanked Garrett and drove him to the airport. I decided this would be a good time to unpack my things and see what decorations my father got for my room.

The bed spreading was purple with intricate black designs on them, and I was fairly pleased that my father could shop for a teenage girl. The rest of the room was simple; a desk and desk chair plus a computer, not one of them old ones, thankfully, and a lamp here or there.

"He did a pretty good job," I said as I sat down on my bed just as I heard a clap of thunder in the distance. Looking out of my window I could see that it was starting to rain, droplets starting to fall on the window before it really started coming down. With a sigh I laid down on my bed and listened to the depressing sound of water slapping against the roof, one I would no doubt have to get used to, and tried to think.

All I could think about was Jake, about the way the water dripped from his chin to his stomach, about the way his only dimple showed when he smiled, and the way he complimented me.

Surprisingly, I fell asleep peacefully that night.

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><p><strong>AN: How was it? As you can see, Bella has taken a liking to Jacob and vice versa. Thoughts on the family dynamics?**

**Any links you need can be found on my profile. I've found the adults for the Biers' and the Hale's, as well as a new Renee because I couldn't find any good ones of the girl that was casted for her. **

**If you have any questions, please let me know. I've got to get back to writing, it's Probably and Possibility time, but please review and let me know what you think about this story.**

**Until next time.  
><strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**The Twilight Saga is the rightful property of Stephenie Meyer, I only take credit for my own ideas.**

**Note: Probability and Possibility started out with Jake/Bella, but it has resolved into Bellice, so those of you who are worried, don't fret and have faith in me. :D**

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><p><strong>Chapter Two<strong>

"_Bella," a voice called from behind me. Quickly I turned around, trying to figure out who had called my name, but instead I found a forest of trees behind me, no person in sight._

"_Hello?" I called out as I took a step towards the trees, trying to see if I could make out a figure of the person who called my name._

_Suddenly, a hand was placed on my shoulder and I jumped in surprise before I turned around to come eye to eye with Jacob Black, his smile wide as he held out his hand._

"_Scared ya," he teased before grabbing my hand. "Do you trust me?" he asked more seriously, his eyes reflecting the seriousness of the situation._

_Slowly I nodded my head. "I do."_

_Jake grinned again, opening his mouth to speak. "Bella."_

_The voice sounded wrong. It didn't sound like it belonged to Jake, it sounded feminine and yet familiar. I couldn't place my finger on it as I raised an eyebrow at Jake. "What's wrong?"_

"_Bella," he answered in the same voice, "it's time to wake up."_

I was kicked out of dream-land by someone shaking me softly. With a groan I rolled over to face the person who had interrupted my dream, one I was sure was going to end in a kiss with the tan football player.

"Morning, sweetie," my Mom said with a smile as her hand reached up to stroke my hair. "I hope I didn't ruin anything fun."

I snorted as I sat up. "Just a little bit."

"Well, you can tell me about it during breakfast. I made bacon and eggs, if you want any." Normally I'd be afraid of her cooking, especially having grown up eating her food (if you could call it that) but after moving to San Francisco, she learned how to cook and thankfully, her food was edible.

And it was delicious, so a grin grew on my face as I kicked the covers off of me.

"Of course I want some," I said with a smile. "Your bacon and eggs are delicious."

Mom rolled her eyes. "You didn't say that when you were younger."

"Yeah, well, your cooking stunk when I was younger," I said before standing up. "Is Emmett eating or is he in the shower?"

That was one thing I hated about sharing a bathroom with my older brother. Yes, he was a guy, but his showers were _long_. Personally, I thought he stayed in there and admired his muscles a bit too long, but that was just my guess.

"He's eating, so if I were you, I'd claim that shower before he can," she said with a wink before standing up and heading for my door. "Well, I'll be downstairs if you need me. See me before you leave, though. I want to wish you luck for your first day of school."

With that, she left outside of my room and I let out another groan. School. Hated it in California and I hate it in Washington. The only thing that was keeping me from shooting myself was the knowledge that I'd see Jake at school and, hopefully, we'd have some classes together. The school population wasn't huge, so there was a chance we would have one or two classes together, and that put a grin on my face as I headed to the bathroom that was conjoined with my brother's room.

Locking the door that led to his room, I turned on the shower and hopped in, scrubbing my body until I felt clean enough to go to school. I headed into my room with a towel wrapped around me as I searched for something decent to wear. Deciding to go with a ruffled halter top and a pair of black denim jeans, I put on my socks and shoes, Converse, of course, and headed down the stairs to see Emmett trying to swipe food from the plate that Mom had set for me.

Glaring at him, I stomped towards him and whacked him on the back of the head. "I saw that."

"Saw what?" he asked, trying to sound innocent, but it was clear to me that he had food in his mouth. "I was just eating my own food and you slapped me. Didn't know my sister was violent."

"Uh-huh, I believe that," I said, rolling my eyes just as Mom walked in the kitchen, a smile on her face. Her hair was hanging down her shoulders in its naturally curly state, shining as if she used conditioner the night before, and she wore a tan sweater and khaki pants. She must've gotten dressed while I was in shower. "Hey, Mom," I said before I cut into my eggs, though it was evident that they had already been cut into.

"Have a good shower, dear?" she asked as she grabbed the coffee pot and filled a mug.

I nodded. "Yeah. It was nice knowing that my brother hadn't stunk up the bathroom minutes before I went in there."

"Hey!" Emmett shouted, dropping his fork as he glared at me. Dad walked in then, and, to my surprise, he was wearing a suit. That was a new one for him. "Damn, Dad…what's got you in a monkey suit?"

Dad chuckled as he grabbed the mug that Mom had poured coffee into, pressing his lips to her cheek before he sat down at his seat. "Well, I do have to go in for an interview, you know. That's how people get jobs."

"Like you couldn't have gone in to the interview in a nice shirt and pants?" Emmett snorted. "The only way you'd catch me in a monkey suit for an interview is if it was a corporate job, and I can already tell you that's _never _going to happen."

"Never say never, Emmett," I said, rolling my eyes. "Weren't you the one who said you'd never move to Forks in a million years?"

"Shut up," he grumbled just as the doorbell chimed.

"Who could be here this early in the morning?" Mom wondered out loud as she headed to the living room to answer the door. "Oh! Come on in!" I heard her greet the visitor before she walked in with a smile on her face. "Look, Charlie," she said just as a man walked in, his brown hair cropped short and some stubble that strapped his chin and went around his mouth that curved upwards in a smile. "It's Jason."

"Jason Biers! Good to see you here, man," Dad said as he stood up with a smile. "What brings you to our neighborhood?"

Jason chuckled and that's when I recognized him. Well, that's when I could see where Riley got some of his looks. "Well, technically, this is everyone's neighborhood; it is a small town, after all. Actually, I came by because I thought you'd like a ride to the station for your interview."

"Oh, well, that's nice and all, but Renée was going to take me. I wouldn't want to impose…" Dad said as he looked to the ground, sticking his hands in his pockets. I knew he was more of a humble man than most people, but it was okay to take someone's offering once in awhile.

"Go on, Charlie," Mom said, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. "It wouldn't hurt to ride with Jason, now would it? You two could catch up and you'd save my wallet; gas isn't cheap, you know."

Jason chuckled. "If Charlie doesn't want to, it's okay."

"No, no. Renée's right. If someone offers to drive me somewhere I'm going anyway, might as well accept. At least let me pay for gas."

"No can do, Chief," Jason said before he laughed. "I mean soon-to-be-Chief, given that you're a shoe-in. Heck, I'm surprised you're dressed up. You do know you're only being interviewed for Chief in a small town and not for General in the army, right?"

"That wasn't funny, Dad, and you know it," a familiar voice called before Riley appeared next to his father. Riley was tall, I knew that, about six feet tall, but his father still had him beat by a couple inches. Seeing them side-by-side, though, I could definitely see the family resemblance.

"My, my," Mom said as she looked at Riley, her lips curving upwards in a smile as she clasped her hands together. "Is that little Riley?"

Riley laughed. "Not so little, anymore, Mrs. Swan."

"Oh, dear, you can call me Renée," Mom said. "I can't believe how tall you got!"

"He gets that from Jason, obviously," Dad said with a chuckle. "I mean, look at him! I used to think Jason was tall but now it looks like Riley's giving a run for his old man. Plus, he's got that Biers charm about him. Yep," Dad nodded, "he's Jason's son alright."

"I don't know about that, Charlie. I see a bit of Beth in him too."

I rolled my eyes. "That's usually what happens when you have a kid, Mom. Children tend to take after their parents." Mom slapped me playfully as everyone else laughed at my joke. "Nice to see you again, Riley."

"Same here, Bella," Riley said with a smile.

"Yeah, it's nice and all," Emmett started before he crossed his arms, "but is that the only reason you came with your father? You heard he was coming over here so you thought you'd come and say hi to my little sister?"

Riley shook his head with a chuckle. "No, no, not at all. My car is actually being worked on so I need a ride to school. Since my mom was asleep, I had to opt for my dad. Sucks, though, because he's making me sit in the back like I'm a criminal."

"It's because you are, kid," Jason said, wrapping an arm around his son's shoulders. "I've caught you trying to steal cookies before dinner when you were younger. You've heard the saying before; if you can't do the time, don't do the crime."

"Yeah, yeah," Riley said, rolling his eyes.

"Well, you know, you could ride with me and Bells," Emmett offered with a shrug. "We're all going to the same place and it would help if you gave us directions to the school since we're new and all."

Riley turned to look at his dad. "Think I can get my backpack from the cruiser?"

Jason nodded before he handed him the keys. Riley grabbed them and ran out of the room and soon I heard the sound of the front door closing. "Since the Swan family is back to Forks for good, I'd figure that I'd throw a barbeque to celebrate."

"Jason, you don't need to," Dad said, shaking his head.

"No, no, I want to. A lot of people had been asking me when you were coming in and since this Saturday is supposed to be a good one, I figured might as well make the most of the weather. I'm not taking no for an answer, so I expect all of you at the house Saturday at two, alright?"

Dad and Mom looked at each other before Dad nodded with a smile. "Alright, we'll go."

"Oh shit," Emmett cursed as he looked at the clock before he stood up. "Looks like I don't have time for a shower. Come on, Bells, we need to get going."

I nodded and headed up to my room, grabbing my backpack and heading down the stairs, giving a brief "goodbye" to Mom, Dad, and Jason before I walked outside to see Riley admiring Emmett's jeep, Emmett waiting by the driver's seat as he watched Riley.

"Nice ride," Riley said as he walked around the vehicle. "She's huge."

Emmett laughed as he opened his door. "Just like her owner," he said with a wink before he climbed into the behemoth of a vehicle. With a small chuckle I got in the passenger's side, Riley holding the door open for me like a gentleman, before he hopped into the back.

It was quiet as Emmett pulled out of the driveway, trying to make sure he didn't run over Jason's cruiser. "So," Emmett started as he drove past the basketball court we had visited a couple days prior, "you're tall; why aren't you on the basketball team?"

I unbuckled one of my many seat belts; Emmett had opted for the seat belts and the harnesses, looking out for my safety. Yes, I was clumsy and occasionally I'd trip or do something ridiculous, but I didn't need thousands of seat belts strapped over me. It reminded me of a strait-jacket.

I turned around in my seat just in time to see Riley shrug. "Well, I mean, I could, but I only play sports for fun. You usually go with basketball and football if you want a future in sports, ya know? I'm just happy to play. Now, I figure you, Emmett, would join the football team."

Emmett grinned from ear to ear. "Damn right. I had scouts looking at me back in San Fran, and I'm sure my old coach will let them know where to find me. I'm a hell of a player."

"So I noticed on the court," Riley chuckled.

"What else do you do in Forks, Riley?" I asked.

He pursed his lips. "Well, I tend to hang out with my friends, and sometimes I go to the movies with my folks but that's only like…once every couple months. Oh, and sometimes some of the guys throw a party on the beach."

"No girlfriend?" Emmett asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nope, no girlfriend."

"Anyone you like?"

Riley was quiet for a minute before his lips tugged upwards in a small smile. "Sort of."

_I'll take that as a yes,_ I thought as I smiled back to Riley.

"Well, as long as it ain't my little sister, I'm okay with that. 'Course, I'd rather you date her than some asshole, considering you're a decent guy and all."

Riley chuckled. "You don't need to worry; it's not your sister," he said before he glanced at me. "No offense, though. You're a beautiful girl and I know you're nice, but…you're not my type. I prefer blondes over brunettes."

"Amen, Riley," Emmett howled. "Man, I had this girl back in San Fran; she was a bit shorter than me but she was a hottie."

Oh, he was talking about his brief fling with Charlotte. It only lasted a month, Emmett had fallen for her quickly and she decided to move on to another football player, Peter. Emmett was heartbroken about it, but it was good seeing him laugh about it. Hopefully it meant he was ready to move on.

"Yeah…" Riley's voice trailed off. "You'll want to make a left here, and then take the second right. That should lead you to the student parking."

Emmett nodded as he followed instructions, and, as we approached the student parking lot, I was amazed by the cars I saw here. Now, since I had gone to high school in California, I expected them to have flashy cars and whatnot, but definitely not in Podunk Forks. Granted, there were only a few of them that were flashier than most; I saw a Camaro and a Mustang, those were the newest cars I had seen, and the others were decent looking; not junk on wheels, surprisingly.

My brother, on the other hand, noticed one of the decent looking cars right away.

"SILVER PUNCH BUGGY, NO PUNCH BACK!" he yelled as his right fist connected with my left arm, resulting in a loud "OWW" from me.

"Damn, Emmett!" I yelled as rubbed my arm. "Why in the hell did you do that?"

Emmett chuckled as he pulled into a parking spot next to the Mustang I had seen earlier. "Because it's the name of the game, duh."

"Next time could you at least tone down the strength? That one really hurt," I pouted.

"Aww," Emmett said as he stopped the car and unbuckled his seat belts before he wrapped his arms around me. "I'm sowwee."

I rolled my eyes. I couldn't help it, whenever he used the baby voice I had to forgive him. "Just…be more careful next time."

"Right-o!" he said as he got out of the jeep, eyeing the Mustang as I walked up next to him. "Damn, that's a fine Mustang. The paint job's probably my favorite part."

I had to agree. Even though yellow wasn't my favorite color, it did fit the Mustang, especially with the two black racing stripes painted on it.

"Glad you like it," a familiar voice said and I turned around to see Jake smiling with Quil and Embry behind him. "Fixed her up myself."

"You work on cars?" Emmett asked. "Damn, that's cool."

Jake chuckled. "Yeah, I do work on cars. In fact, I kind of run a little bit of a garage with some of the guys on the rez. It ain't cheap but…it's not Dowling's either."

I wasn't sure if that made him hotter or not. He was sixteen and he had a job in his _own_ garage? That was either stupid or incredibly smart.

Riley got out of the jeep, then, pulling his backpack over his shoulders as he closed the door.

"Got a ride from the Swan's, eh Riley?" Jake asked. "Thought I'd let you know that when I left the garage Sam said he'd do the work on your car. It should be done by the time he gets off, but…we'll see. He's the only one who works most of the day during the week, since the rest of us have school."

"That's alright. Take your time," Riley said. "Just…not a month. That would be unreasonable."

Embry, Quil and Jake all laughed. "Yeah, it will be less than a week, I guarantee," Jake said before he looked at me. "Hey, Bella," he said with a smile. "How're you?"

"Hey, Jake," I said as I looked away from his eyes. They were soulful and reflected his friendly demeanor; I had a hard time fighting the effect of being sucked in. "I'm good."

"That's good," he said with a smile. "Well, you and your brother might want to go to the office now so that you're not late for your first period class, ya know?"

Emmett nodded as he looked at Jake carefully. "Which way?"

When Jake pointed the direction, Emmett thanked him and we were on our way before I felt Emmett's arm wrap around my shoulders.

"You like Jake, huh?" he asked as we walked. "Look, I'm not going to tell you who you should and shouldn't date but…be careful. The last thing I want to see is my sister getting pregnant in high school…or worse."

"What's worse than teenage pregnancy?" I snorted.

He sighed. "My sister with a broken heart."

We walked into the office then, so we couldn't continue with the conversation, and his arm came down to his side as he leaned over the counter.

The woman sitting there, Mrs. Cope, as her name plaque read, looked up and almost had a heart attack. Granted, I would too if I was her age and saw Emmett's large frame leaning over me.

"I'm sorry, dears," she said as she noticed me. "We're running a bit behind schedule since we have new kids coming and…well…"

Emmett cleared his throat. "I think we are the new kids, Mrs. Cope."

She looked up again and laughed. "Well, so you are! I'm sorry. I should have recognized the Swan's grandkids. The Vice Principal isn't in her office at the moment; she ran to get some coffee, but I'll let you all in there. Come with me," she said as she stood up.

Emmett glanced at me before we followed her to a small room in the back, and when we sat down, she closed the door behind her as she headed back to her roost.

I decided to look around the office to see if there was anything that could talk about the judge of character the Vice Principal had. On her desk was a picture of her family, I assumed it was hers because otherwise that would've been kind of weird, and I picked up the picture frame as I examined them.

She was blonde but she looked smart, wearing a pantsuit and a friendly smile as she leaned against her husband, who had light brown hair and a nice shirt and jacket on. In front of them were two blonde kids, one male, one female, and they didn't look much older than me. The male was a cutie, with a wide grin and short hair that reached the top of his ears, and the female was definitely…how to put this politely…someone I pictured Hugh Hefner would like. She looked beautiful, with her blonde hair swept back and her smile kind.

Emmett whistled as he took the picture frame from me. "Damn, her daughter is a babe. I bet this is the blonde Riley's crushing on."

I nodded in agreement. Who wouldn't have a crush on her?

The sound of the doorknob clicking caused us to jump and Emmett quickly placed the picture frame on her desk just as the Vice Principal, Laura Hale, walked in.

"Charlie's kids," she said with a smile as she sat down at her desk. "I was wondering when you were going to come into my office. I assume you're here for your schedules?"

"Yes, please," I said with a smile. "We were supposed to start school in a week back in San Francisco, but…"

"Now we're two weeks behind," Emmett said with a shrug. "It sucks being the new kids when school just started up."

She chuckled. "It's the best time _to_ start school, rather than start it when it normally starts. Most teachers don't give tests within the first two weeks, unless you get a hard one, so you should be able to catch up in no time; especially if you're your father's kids. He was a smart man, from what my husband told me. Now, let's see what we have here…"

She typed away at her computer for a minute before I heard the printer start to work. "Looks like I gave you simple classes. I tried to stay away from teachers who could be…overbearing…but I'm afraid, Emmett, that I had to give you the hardest one at this school; Mr. Varner."

Emmett shrugged. "Doesn't matter to me; I can just prove to the scouts that I'm more than just a player."

"That's the way to look at it!" she laughed. "Okay, here are you schedules. If you have any trouble, my door is always open."

Emmett and I walked out of the office then, after giving our thanks, and looked at our schedules.

**1st Period: History**

Mrs. Yorkie: Room 101

**2nd Period: Geometry**

Mr. Bates: Room 210

**3rd Period: English**

Mr. Berty: Room 111

**Lunch**

**4th Period: Art**

Ms. Ashwill: Room 202

**5th Period: Gym**

Coach Clapp: Gymnasium

I sighed as I looked at my schedule. _Well, _I thought to myself, _at least my first class isn't too far away._

Grabbing my backpack tightly, I said goodbye to Emmett and headed for my first class in Hell.

History, here I come.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And there is the second chapter to Optical Illusion. Next chapter you'll finally get to see the face you've been waiting for, though she was in this chapter in spirit, and, fair warning, it's a long one.**

**Next chapter we get to see some of Bella's classmates and her new group that she sits with at lunch. Until next time.  
><strong>


	3. Chapter 3

**The Twilight Saga is the rightful property of Stephenie Meyer. I only take credit for my own ideas.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Three<strong>

_Just take a deep breath, Bella, _I chanted to myself as I headed to room 101. _It's just your first day of school; you've done this plenty of times before._

However, as soon as I walked through the door, my lips tugged downwards in a frown as the chattering students quieted down and turned to face the entrance, looking at me like I was an alien. _Well, maybe I haven't done this plenty of times before, but it shouldn't be too difficult… _I told myself just as I walked to the teacher, a short, Asian woman with black hair that fell to her shoulders, and she didn't look like she was much older than my mom.

"You must be Isabella Swan," she said with a friendly smile, offering her hand. "I'm Mrs. Yorkie, your history teacher."

I gave her a smile in return as I shook her hand, earning glances from students as they entered the class. Thank goodness I didn't come in here after class had already started. "Nice to meet you, but do you mind if you can call me Bella? Isabella makes me feel old."

Mrs. Yorkie chuckled. "Of course. Let me just write it in on the clipboard; you can take an empty seat, there is no seating chart so feel free to pick a chair. We don't have an extra book at the moment, though, so you're going to have to share with a neighbor for a day or two before I can locate one for you, if that's okay."

"Yeah, that's fine," I said before I turned to look at the desks. Of course the students were watching; trying to figure out where their new classmate was going to sit, when I spotted a pair of brown eyes that greeted me with a warm fire behind them before I saw a russet-colored hand wave me over. A smile grew on my lips as I walked over towards the guy who waved me over, throwing my stuff onto the desk before I slid into the seat. "Hey, Jake."

He chuckled. "Fancy meeting you here," he said with a wink. "How're you liking Forks so far?"

I shrugged. "I was able to go to sleep fairly easy my first night here. Usually when we spent the weekend with our grandparents I had a hard time falling asleep, because of the rain, but…it was actually peaceful."

"Yeah, once you realize you can't change the weather and you know that the rain is _not_ going to go away, you figure that you might as well get used to it. It is peaceful, but…" he chuckled as he trailed off. "Truthfully, you came at _the_ right time. Lately we've been having fewer rains than usual; yeah, it still rains a lot, but there are more sunny days."

"Global warming?"

"Might be," he said before a shadow enveloped me. I turned to my right to see Mike Newton standing over me, his hands on his hips and a grin on his lips before he slid into his chair.

"Well, look who's sitting behind me," he said. "It's cool that you're in our class, Bella. It'll definitely make this class less boring."

Jake snorted. "History's actually cool, if you would pay attention and not snore so loudly when Mrs. Yorkie is talking."

"I don't snore! I sleep quietly!" Mike argued.

"That's why she had to stop the lesson and wait for you to get up on your own before continuing. Seriously, you snore, and it was hilarious."

"Whatever," Mike rolled his eyes before turning to me. "So what were you two talking about before I came in?"

"Jake was just telling me that there have been a lot more sunny days than usual," I said.

Mike nodded. "Yeah, there definitely has been. In fact, the forecast shows that this Saturday _and_ next Saturday are supposed to be good ones. I'm thinking a party on the beach would be good, don't you think?"

"This Saturday?" I asked. When Mike nodded, I shook my head. "I wouldn't be able to make it. I've got to go to a barbeque this Saturday. Sorry."

Jake chuckled. "Don't apologize, Bella. If you made plans you should stick to them. Besides, next week it's supposed to be good, too, so we could always throw one then, too."

"You'll talk to Sam?" Mike asked.

"Yeah, I will," Jake said just as Mrs. Yorkie closed the door.

As she started to talk about something that happened way back when; I wasn't paying attention because I was more focused on the fact that my crush is sitting next to me in my first class of the day, I felt a poke at my elbow, which was on the desk, and looked down to see a sheet of paper. Tilting my head to the side, I read what was on it.

_You should consider going to the party next week. It usually starts an hour or so before the sunset so you'll be able to witness the beauty of First Beach._

At first I thought that Mike had written it, but once I saw his head bob, I realized that if he wrote it, he wouldn't fall asleep. Instead, I turned to see Jake raising an eyebrow at me, as if he was expecting me to write back.

_Well, _I started to write, _I'll think about it. I'm not sure that'll give me enough time to get settled in, you know? _I wrote before I handed the note to him.

_Come on, _it read after he handed the note back to me. _I promise, it'll be fun. We could go on a walk to the tide pools and I could tell you about the legends us Quileutes have. Seriously, some of them are ridiculous. Besides, you know, I'd really like you to go._

_I don't know…_

He chuckled under his breath before I heard his pencil scribble on the paper. I tapped my pencil to the desk as I waited for his response.

_Bella…I'm trying to ask you on a date…yeah, I know asking someone out on a piece of paper isn't romantic, but I really wouldn't like to get in trouble with Mrs. Yorkie. So…will you go to the party with me, as a date? Or as a friend, if you want, I'm cool with that._

My lips tugged upwards as I finished reading his note. Wow…he was asking me out on a date? I took a deep calming breath, closing my eyes as the little girl inside of me screamed her heart out. I never expected for him to ask me out, I mean, yeah, I liked him and I knew he was being kind of flirty with me, but I never thought he would ask me out, let alone this quickly.

With a triumphant sigh I wrote down "_Yes, I'd love to go on a date with you" _before handing it to him. He grinned before nodding in my direction, scribbling on his paper before he handed it back to be, his eyes returning to the front as he acted like he was paying attention.

Quickly I unfolded the note, reading the _"I'm looking forward to it" _before a smile of my own grew on my lips. Stuffing the note back in my pocket, I looked to the front and listened to Mrs. Yorkie go on and on about the Persian-Gulf War with enthusiasm, nodding every now and then as she pointed to her map and asked questions.

After fifty minutes of this, the bell rang and I quickly gathered my stuff before I grabbed my schedule, eyeing the class number that I'd have to head to. Second floor, room ten. I had a walk ahead of me. With a sigh, I threw my bag over my shoulder and sauntered out of the classroom, trying to avoid the whispers of other students as they watched me leave, and I walked up the closest staircase I could find. There was a couple making out, a large, football player, I assumed, with short brunette hair, making out with a blonde, his arm reaching for her thigh before he hitched her leg around his waist.

I moved past them, rolling my eyes. High school students were horny. Yes, I will admit that I had rode solo on several occasions, but that didn't mean I was ready to dry hump someone in between classes where everyone could see me.

Slowly I walked down the second floor hall, glancing at the numbers above the doorways before I stopped at room 210. There, sitting at the desk, was a man who looked like he had gotten too much sun, and not enough sun screen, with short black hair that had specks of grey in it. Clearing my throat, I handed him my schedule.

"I think I'm in your class," I said, glancing at his name plate. Mr. Bates; okay, I was in the right class.

He eyed my schedule before giving me a smile. "Welcome, Isabella. I'll be teaching you geometry for the rest of the year. There is only one open seat left; let me show you where it is," he said as he stood up, revealing his scrawny frame. No wonder he chose to be a teacher; he didn't look like he was cut out for anything else.

Leading me down an aisle, he stopped at a desk that was almost in the back, maybe a couple rows away from being the last row, before he pointed to the basket underneath the seat. "Most of the desks have books underneath them, though some students prefer to have their own book."

"Thanks, Mr. Bates," I said. "But, uh," I started, tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear, "can you call me Bella? I don't really like Isabella…"

"No problem," he said before he headed back to his desk just as a girl took the seat to my left. Her hair was cut short, almost falling to her shoulders, and it was brown with a reddish hint to it. When she looked at me, she flashed me a friendly smile, revealing her dimples and her emerald green eyes before she put her book on the desk, grabbed a pencil and headed for the pencil sharpener. The girl that sat in front of her snickered before turning around and turning the book to face her, stuffing something inside before she quickly turned to face the front.

My neighbor was just heading back, her eyes on her book as she noticed that something was in there; even if she couldn't see it she could probably see the gap between the pages. Sitting down in her seat, she opened the book and, since I was looking, I could see that it was a pair of panties.

My neighbor sighed and raised her hand as she grabbed the underwear with her other hand, stuffing it into her pocket. "Mr. Bates, may I go to the restroom?"

Mr. Bates glanced up from his papers, nodding. "If you can make it before we're finished with the sponge, I won't count you tardy."

She nodded at him before gathering her purse and walking out of the room, her lips curled upwards as she glanced at the girl in front of her. Once she left, the prankster snickered again, earning a high-five from her friends.

Something made me think that they didn't like that girl, but I couldn't figure out _why._ That girl had seemed friendly enough; of course, I was new here, so I didn't know much.

She came back halfway through our sponge, though I had it done quickly since I was enrolled in geometry my freshman year back in San Fran, and I noticed her struggle a bit. I wanted to offer her help, but she put her pencil down as soon as it was time to turn in our assignments. I listened to Mr. Bates talk about the different ways to classify a triangle until the bell rang. I gathered my stuff, turning to look at my neighbor who had already walked out of the classroom.

_Well, I was going to introduce myself…_

With a sigh I headed out of the classroom and down the stairs, walking into room 111 before a familiar baby-faced blonde jumped in front of me.

"We have another class together! Suh-weet!" Mike said, doing a mini-fist pump. "Come on, there is a seat at my table that's free."

I nodded as I followed him, too nice to tell him that I wasn't interested, before I found sat down in a chair, finding myself surrounded by curious eyes, even if it were only two pairs.

"Guys," Mike started, turning his seat around and sitting down in it the wrong way, his arms leaning against the back of the chair, "this is Bella. Bella, this is my crew. That's Jessica," he pointed to a blonde girl, and I recognized her almost instantly. She was the one that placed the underwear in the Geometry book earlier. She gave me a friendly smile, obviously trying to hide the fact that she played a prank, before she turned back and gave goo-goo eyes at Mike. Ah, she was his girl, huh? "That's Eric," he said, pointing to the only Asian at the table, "his mom is our History teacher."

"Nice to meet you," Eric said, giving me a smile, the top row of his teeth covered in braces. That was attractive. "How're you liking Forks?"

"I'll tell you later…first I have to tell Mr.…Berty that I'm in his class," I said, excusing myself from the table as I stood up and headed towards the desk, handing my schedule to the teacher who was obviously in his mid-fifties. After telling him that I was in his class, and asking him to please call me Bella, I sat back down. "Forks is okay…I'm definitely going to have to get used to it."

Jessica placed her chin on her hands. "Don't worry. It gets better. I moved here a couple of years ago and let me just say…" she trailed off, looking at Mike before turning her gaze back to me, "you aren't going to be disappointed."

Mike mustn't have paid any attention to Jessica as he leaned closer to me. "So, you want to have lunch with us? Might as well, considering you don't know anyone."

I shrugged. "We'll see," I said before Mr. Berty called the class to order, talking about the first book on our reading assignment _To Kill A Mockingbird, _before talking about the first writing assignment, a memoir. Mr. Berty wasn't one of my favorite teachers, to say the least, as he was one of those who seemed to drone on and on in a monotone, so when the bell rang, I pretty much thanked God.

Mike went on ahead but Jessica stayed behind, waiting by the table as I stuffed my new reading book into my bag, before she flashed me a kind smile. "Come on, you probably need help knowing the layout of the cafeteria."

Grabbing my arm, then, she led me to the cafeteria before we headed to the lunch line. "Okay, so all the jocks tend to sit together, and most of the time you'll see them with their girlfriend or latest flavor of the week. Mike, Eric, and a few more of our friends sit at the popular table. You're allowed to sit there with us because Mike practically gave you an invitation," she said, flipping her hair before she grabbed a tray.

_Gee, I feel special. _"Okay…" I said as I grabbed my own tray, looking at the girl from my Geometry class she sat down at a table with a blonde guy, who seemed familiar, and a guy with bronze-haired that laughed when she sat down.

She followed my gaze before scoffing as she grabbed a pizza. "You're going to want to stay away from that table."

"Why?" I asked, watching as two other people, a girl with glasses and a small, Native American boy joined them.

"Because," she laughed, "that's the loser table. You see that girl with the hair that comes down to her shoulders? That's Alice Cullen. She thinks she's cool and all because she's on the cheerleading team but…she's…well…she doesn't like boys. And that blonde guy, he doesn't like girls. It's really…weird. I'd never heard of someone being like that, you know?" _That's surprising. _"And those two others that just joined their table? They're total nerds. They stay away from the good stuff at the parties and I have it on good authority that they're both virgins."

"O…kay…" I said as I gathered my food. "So I should stay away?"

"Definitely."

With a sly grin I gave the lunch lady my number and followed Jessica. Once we were close to her table, I quickly veered left and headed for the "loser table", setting my stuff down in between the girl from my Geometry class and the blonde guy that seemed familiar. "Mind if I sit here," I said as my butt hit plastic, not giving them a choice.

The girl from Geometry, Alice, giggled. "I saw you talking to Jessica. Aren't you afraid we'll give you _gay germs_," she said in a spooky voice before laughing again. I had to join in with her.

"Well, no, I'm not like them…I don't judge people. Love is love," I said with a shrug. "I'm Bella Swan," I said, offering my hand.

"Alice Cullen," she said, shaking my hand.

"Jasper Hale," the blonde guy next to me said, offering his own hand.

_Hale…Hale…Hale…_ "Is your mom the vice principal?" I asked as I took his hand.

He laughed and nodded. "Yeah, she is. Sometimes people tend to tease me about that but…it pays the bills."

_No wonder he looked familiar; I saw his picture in the office. _"Nice to meet you."

The guy across from him looked similar to Alice, having brown hair with a reddish undertone to it and some of the same facial features, though his jaw and chin was covered in a light stubble before he ran his hand through his hair and flashed a smile. "I'm Edward, Alice's older brother."

_That explains the similarities. _I smiled back. "I can tell you two are related."

Alice groaned. "It sucks, having to grow up with an older brother."

"Try an older sister," Jasper muttered under his breath.

"Amen to that," the Native American kid said with a grin. "I'm Seth Clearwater."

"And I'm his girlfriend, Angela Weber," the other girl said with a smile as she fidgeted with her glasses. I recognized her from my History class, the girl who sat in the front and always raised her hand when Mrs. Yorkie asked a question; she'd definitely be helpful if I ever struggled in that class.

"Nice to meet you too," I said with a smile of my own before cracking open my lemonade.

"Forks treating you okay?" Edward asked as he cocked his head to the side. "Nobody has been too hard on you?"

I shook my head. "Not to me but…" I trailed off and looked to Alice. "What's the deal between you and Jessica?"

She laughed just as Edward shot her a glare. "Jessica did something? _Again?_" he half-growled, looking towards the table in the center just as Jessica did her half-cackle of a laugh.

"Edward, it was no big deal," Alice sighed, rolling her eyes before she turned to me. "Jessica isn't happy that I made the cheerleading team. Her and some of the others think that…well…that I'm going to corner them in the locker room and turn them gay. They've been trying to make my life a living Hell but I don't give them that satisfaction. I like being a cheerleader. It's fun."

Of course she was a cheerleader; she was a small, about five foot two, girl with a slim figure. She seemed like the type you'd see at the top of a pyramid or one of the ones that got thrown around in the air. "What, do they expect you to cry just for a pair of underwear in your math book?"

"I guess so," she laughed.

"Babe!" we heard a male voice call, so I turned around to see the large brunette I saw earlier, the one that was making out on the stairs, following a blonde, who _wasn't_ the same one I saw him making out with earlier, before she stopped at the lunch table and sat down next to Angela, across from Alice, and sighed. "Come on. Why don't you sit with me and the guys?" _Probably because you're a cheating bastard? Wait...she probably doesn't know that._

"Because, Felix," she said, tossing her hair over her shoulder before opening the packaging that held the utensils, glaring at the mammoth standing behind her. He was huge, bigger than Emmett, even, but it seemed that he was the kind of guy who had an ego to match. "As I said before, I _like_ sitting next to my brother and my friends."

"Yeah, but the guys make fun of me because my girlfriend sits at the loser table. Come on, please, Rose? I'll make it up to you in gym next period," he said with a hopeful grin, his eyes swirling with the possibility of what was to come.

"For the last time, Felix. No," Rose said.

Felix's lip twitched before he grumbled something unintelligible under his breath, walking over towards the jock table with his shoulders slumped.

"Rose, why are you still with Felix?" Alice asked. "He's a total tool."

Jasper nodded. "I would've thought that my sister had better choice in men than myself, but clearly I was wrong."

So this was the blonde girl I had seen in the picture with Jasper and Vice Principal Hale. Seeing her in person, I definitely agreed with my first judgment of her, and then some. In person, you could see the radiating beauty coming off of her, as well as a bit of…not to be mean…vanity.

"Felix is a sweet guy…some of the time…and he can be really romantic….when he wants to be…but enough about that," Rose said, leaning against the table to look at me. "Who's the new face?"

Before I could answer, Alice wrapped her arms around my shoulders and pressed her lips to my cheek. "This is my girlfriend, Bella. We are madly in love and we plan to go to Vancouver to elope."

Deciding to continue on with the joke, my lips curled into a grin. "I don't know what I'd do without her."

The others all laughed as Rose raised an eyebrow at me before she finally gave in and let out a chuckle. "Alright, she's cool," she said just as Alice let go of me and went back to her food. "Where are you from, Bella?"

"San Fransisco," I said with a shrug. "I had a few gay and lesbian friends there, and I don't that sexuality changes who a person is, just who they love." Granted, I wasn't a lesbian myself, nor was I bisexual, but I always told myself that I did fall in love with a girl, I wouldn't fight it. I'd let the chips fall where they may.

"Yeah, she's definitely staying," Alice said with a giggle. "I dub her a member of our club!"

Seth snorted. "We have a club?"

Edward sighed. "In Alice's mind we do."

"Well, Bella, I'm Rosalie Hale, Jasper's older twin sister," she said with a smile before grabbing a fry. "But you can call me Rose."

"That's a surprise. It took me years to get the privilege of calling you Rose and I've known you since birth," Jasper teased, causing Rose to stand up and reach over to slap her brother on his shoulder. We all laughed when he ducked out of the way, though that was soon dissolved when she glared at all of us.

"It seems Bella's fitting in nicely," a familiar voice called before I saw Riley walking around the table, giving me a friendly smile. "Glad to see that people aren't afraid of the new kid."

I raised an eyebrow. "Oh, they're afraid of me, alright. They're so afraid that they are _acting_ like I fit in."

"Bella's a terrifying beast, Riley, you should be afraid," Alice teased, scooting her chair so that she was farther away from me.

Riley chuckled. "Oh, I know, but I actually came by to see if you were going to be at practice, Edward," he said as he turned to the guy in question. "I'll need a ride home, seeing as my car is in the shop."

Edward nodded. "Yeah, I will, but Alice is the one driving today so…"

"I think I can handle sitting in a Volkswagen," Riley said before turning to Jasper. "You should really consider joining the baseball team, Jasper…you'd be really good at it."

Jasper gave Riley a smile. "I've been thinking about it, but I'm not sure…"

"Well, if you ever decide, let me know," Riley said as he stuck his hands in his pockets walking away with a small smile before heading to his own table. Jasper's eyes seemed to follow Riley, or more so Riley's ass, before he turned to us and asked Edward about baseball.

I listened to Alice talk about Jessica's ongoing grudge with her while my mind replayed the situation I witnessed over and over again. Riley said that he preferred blondes, but I didn't think he meant blonde males…until now. It was clear, to me at least, that Riley had a thing for Jasper, and Jasper was attracted to Riley, but did they know that they liked each other? My mother was perceptive, I suppose that's where I got it from, so I'm sure the ordinary student wouldn't catch on to things like that. The only question was if there was going to be anything going on between them.

Regardless, the bell rang and I headed to my next class, which was Art, before I felt a hand on my arm. Turning around, I saw that it was Alice with a kind smile on her lips.

"What's your next class?" she asked.

"Art…you?"

"Yay!" she said, clapping her hands together. "You're in another class with me! Come on, follow me!"

"Well o—," I was interrupted as Alice skipped ahead of me and towards the staircase, turning around and waving me to follow her. With a sigh I gripped my backpack closer to me and followed her, surprised by her giddiness. Well, she definitely had what it took to be a cheerleader.

We walked into the classroom arm-in-arm, though we had to separate so I could give the teacher, Ms. Ashwill, who was a young brunette woman, my schedule. I immediately took my seat next to Alice and we talked about the beach and how some people were planning on throwing a party. I wasn't going to let her know that I had a date, but I figured that while I was there I was going to talk to her. I wasn't going to be one of those people who acted different when they were with their boyfriend/girlfriend…no.

After learning about a drawing assignment I'd have to do, a landscape drawing, I groaned. I was never artistically gifted so my drawings were only shown on the refrigerator gallery, until I was ten when I decided to stop fooling myself. Alice, on the other hand, was sketching a portrait of someone, and I could tell that she was gifted…maybe if I helped her with Geometry she'd help me with Art?

I didn't get the time to ask her as the bell rang. We said our goodbyes and I headed to gym class; most of the girls were going to the locker rooms but I had nothing to change into so I headed into the gymnasium. Standing in the middle of the court with a clipboard was a man with a blue and white jumpsuit on, a dark blue cap to match, and a whistle around his neck. Yeah, he seemed to me that he was the coach.

"I'm Bella Swan," I said as I walked up to him, giving him a smile.

"Swan, huh?" he asked, flipping through his clipboard. "Emmett's your brother?"

I nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Well, if you're half as good as he his, you'll ace this class in no time," he said with a smile. "Welcome to gym, Bella. I suggest you get your parents to buy some workout clothes, or you could find loose-fitting old clothes, for your gym clothes. Today is a free day, since the kids worked hard with Ultimate Frisbee yesterday, so you won't sweat too much. On free days, I give full points to people as long as they're doing something other than sitting on the bleachers and texting their friends, understand?"

"Yes, Mr. Clapp," I said.

He chuckled. "Mr. Clapp was my father…call me Coach."

"Thanks, Coach," I said before I turned around just in time to see Jake walking in. He was wearing a tank top that strained against his shoulders, and a pair of basketball shorts. He smiled and waved when he saw me before jogging towards me, his shorts swishing side to side.

"You're in here, Bella?" he asked with a grin. "Sweet. I can begin and end my day with seeing you," he said with a wink before jogging to a couple of guys that were passing a basketball to each other.

I decided to walk around the gym for my activity, watching Jake play basketball all the while, hoping that whenever he made a dunk I'd get a small peek at the muscles underneath the fabric of his tank. Unfortunately, since I was the danger magnet, as my brother puts it, the basketball managed to find a spot on the side of my head, causing me to jerk my head and sit down in a matter of seconds.

"Dude, I'm sorry!" I heard one of the players apologize as they all gathered around me. I felt a pair of hands grab underneath my arms, trying to lift me up. Getting to my feet, I chuckled at the guy who apologized.

"I'm a klutz, it was bound to happen eventually."

"I should've caught it! It was my fault. I wasn't paying attention because—well…um…it's my fault," he apologized, scratching the back of his neck.

Jake turned to him. "You think you'll be okay without me, Austin?"

Austin, I assumed, nodded. "You go on ahead. We've got about two minutes left, anyway."

Jake nodded to the water fountains. "Come on, let's get some water in you."

"Okay…" I said as I followed him. He ushered me to take a drink and I did. "Thanks…you didn't have to stay with me; it was just a basketball."

"Yeah, but I feel partially responsible, since I was the one who was tossing the ball to Austin," he shrugged. "Besides, I really don't want you to be in a coma when it's time for our date."

A blush crept across my cheek and I bit my lip, looking at the floor. "Uh…well…thank you."

"No problem," he said, just as the bell rang. "Well, I'll catch you later, alright? Maybe we can be study buddies for History," he said with a grin before jogging out of the gym.

Taking a deep, calming breath I walked over to the bleachers and grabbed my backpack before I walked out of the gym, heading towards the double doors that led to the parking lot. Emmett met me halfway down the hallway, wrapping his arm around me as we walked.

"How was your first day? Make any friends?"

"It was…great."

Forks was really starting to grow on me.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Whew! I finally finished the fifth chapter so I was able to give you this piece of sunshine. I bet many of you are like "whoo! alice!". She was definitely fun to write.**

**Next chapter is the barbeque!**


	4. Chapter 4

**The Twilight Saga is the rightful property of Stephenie Meyer. I only take credit for my own ideas.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Four<strong>

"Oh no you don't!" Emmett shouted at the television screen, sticking his tongue out of the side of his mouth as he mashed his fingers at the buttons on the controller in his hand, causing the character he was playing to fire bullets from his hand gun. "You're not going anywhere."

I chuckled at my brother, putting my hand on his shoulder. "Em, they can't hear you. It's just a game."

"Fuck if I care," he snorted, leaning forward as he chased after a police officer. "You're going down, coppa!"

It was entertaining to watch my brother play a video game. He got very invested into the storyline and into the characters, and he, on several occasions, had a thing for yelling at the screen. I had seen this many times, whether it be when he was playing something as violent as Call of Duty or something as innocent and fun as Mario Kart Racing on the Wii.

His current flavor of the week, because when he wasn't doing homework or practicing for football he was playing video games, was Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Now, he had beaten this game a couple times before, so I should know when he shouts at the screen, but sometimes he surprised me.

Like now, for instance.

"Shit! They got the helicopter coming after me!" he cursed as he made his character run as fast as he could, switching to his fists so that he wouldn't be slowed down by an AK-47.

"Emmett! Language!" My mother called from the top of the stairs before I heard the sound of her bedroom door closing. After receiving a job as a fourth grade teacher at the Elementary school, she felt it was time she worked on her lesson plans that she had made to show the interviewer at the school. My father, on the other hand, was doing an early morning patrol, even though it was ten-thirty in the morning, in his new police cruiser, one he got moments after walking into the interview.

Needless to say, my parents weren't worried about finding a job anymore. They were happy that they fit in with the community so easily, and they were ecstatic to meet more people at the barbeque that Jason Biers was throwing in a couple of hours.

I was glad to be fitting in with the community, too. Jessica Stanley gave up on trying to convert me to the popular table seconds after I ditched her to go sit with my new crew, or club, as Alice referred to it as, so she now whispered to her friend, Lauren Mallory, I soon learned, whenever Alice and I took our seats in Geometry.

Mike Newton, on the other hand, still had an agenda set out for me. He wasn't the kind of guy who asked me out day in and day out, no, but it was obvious by the smile on his lips and the spark in his eyes that he was hoping for more than just friendship. Yesterday I even stopped him before we walked into History to tell him that I didn't feel anything for him, other than friendship feelings, though I could tell in his expression that he was lingering on to some prayer that I'd change my mind.

Regardless, I was glad with how I fit in with the students at Forks. I had my own group of friends, no matter how crazy they were, Alice being the most crazy, though I wouldn't tell her that, I liked my teachers enough to answer questions with a smile when called upon, and I also had two classes with Jacob Black, the guy I was heavily crushing on and the guy that had asked me out to a party that was happening on the beach next week.

I was really anxious for this week, and the next week, to be over with so that I could go on my date with him, but there was only one thing in the way. Well…maybe two things.

Emmett and my father.

Now, I knew that my brother liked Jacob, but did he like him enough to leave his baby sister alone with him? And my dad…he was heavily protective about me just hanging around with a group of boys, what would he do when he heard that his daughter had a date with a boy?

With a sigh, I ran my hand through my hair before I leaned back against the couch, watching Emmett destroy helicopters with a rocket launcher on the roof of one of the virtual buildings to keep my mind off of the, no doubt, impending doom, when I heard a knock on the door.

"Ain't gonna mess with me, fucker," he muttered under his breath as he shot rocket after rocket into the sky, and I soon realized it was useless to rely on him to answer the door; right now, he _was _Carl Johnson.

Getting to my feet, I quickly headed towards the front door as I heard an explosion in the background, followed by a loud "WOO!" from Emmett, before I opened the door, revealing the guy I was just thinking about, wearing a white shirt with a red outline of, I assumed was, a phoenix, and baggy jeans, his teeth gleaming against his russet skin.

"Hey, Bella," he said before leaning against the door frame. "Can I come in?"

Swallowing a lump in my throat, I ignored the sound of yet another explosion as I looked at the only dimple Jake had, the one on his right cheek that seemed to deepen as his grin grew. "H-How did you know where I live?"

He laughed, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jeans before shrugging. "Well, you're family _is_ the talk of the town, plus…that behemoth in the driveway gave away your house," he said before smiling again. "So…can I come in?"

"Uh…yeah…sure…" I said as I opened the door further, taking a step back as I offered more room for Jake to enter, his eyes looking around the room as I closed the door. "So…uh…what brings you here?"

"Can't a guy come visit his friend?" he asked. "Actually, I thought that, since you were going to a barbeque later, that I'd just come and talk to you? You don't mind, right? I'm not intruding on any quality family time?"

"FUCK YES!" Emmett cursed from the living room, causing Jake to turn and look in that direction.

I chuckled. "If you call listening to Emmett talk to the characters in his video game quality family time, then yes, yes you are."

He covered his mouth with his hand as he stifled a laugh before turning to me. "I'm not _that _into video games, I want you to know. I know that they're video games and I'm living in real life…"

"Emmett does too, but once you put a controller in front of him, there's no use getting him to cut out the language," I said before scratching the back of my neck. "Um, I wish there was something I could offer you. We only had cereal this morning, so there aren't any leftover pancakes or waffles that you could eat, and we're pretty low on groceries…"

Jake raised his hands and shook his head. "No, no. I had a nice meal of sausage and eggs this morning, I'm good. You don't need to feed me. Besides," he started, lowering his voice before he brought his lips to my ear, "I'm afraid that your brother will poison the food."

The feel of his breath on my ear caused a small shiver to roll down my spine before I took a calming breath. "I-I don't think he would do that."

"Oh?" he said, turning to look into the living room. "I thought," he said before shrugging again, looking at me, "since he seemed protective over you, that he wouldn't want anyone hurting his sister. I know that my sisters were protective over me when I was younger."

I raised an eyebrow. "You have sisters?"

Jake nodded. "Two, they're twins. Rachel goes to Washington State, with a scholarship she got, and Rebecca is married in Hawaii. They don't come home much…not since…"

"Since when?"

He sighed and shook his head. "In due time…it's a bit too soon for me to tell you about that, I think. So…what is your brother playing?" he asked before he turned for the living room one last time, taking the necessary steps to place him in there so that he could see the screen. "Grand Theft Auto, huh?"

Emmett paused the game, the map being brought up onto the screen, before he turned to look over the back of the couch, giving a smile as he recognized the guy that spoke. "Well, if it isn't Jacob Black. What're you going here?"

"Just thought I'd come by and say hello, if that's okay," he said before shrugging. "I hear that you're way into the game there, Em. Might want to consider joining us in the real world?"

"Why? It's illegal to kill cops in the real world," he teased.

"Emmett!" I heard Dad call out as the door was swung open, banging into the wall before I turned around to see my father almost beet red, his brow furrowed as he glared into the living room. "Who the hell has their dirt bike parked in the drive way? Is it yours?" he called out before he walked into the living room, spotting Jake. Great…this wasn't going to end well. "Who're you?"

Jake glanced at me before he scratched the back of his neck with an innocent smile. "I'm…uh...Jacob Black…and that's my dirt bike out there…sir," he added on for good measure.

Dad raised an eyebrow. "Jacob Black, huh? Billy's boy?"

"Yeah, that would be my dad," he answered. "Look, I can move my bike if it's a problem…I just wanted to come and say hi to your children…"

Instead of growing angry like I expected him to be, his skin returned to its natural pale color as his grimace turned to a smile. "No, no, that's fine. How's Billy doing? I heard about the accident involving Sarah…"

Jake sighed. "He's doing well, but…I guess you didn't hear…he's in a wheelchair now."

"What happened?" Dad asked in a demanding tone. "He didn't get in an accident too, did he?"

"No, no, he just lost most of the mobility in his legs because of the diabetes. He can still use a crutch to stand up, but, for the most part, he's in the wheelchair."

Dad scratched his chin before sighing. "Damn. Well, give him my best, alright? I'm sorry you can't stay longer, but we've got to get ready for a barbeque."

"I understand," he said before he turned to me. "I'll see you on Monday, Bella?"

I nodded before Jake gave a final goodbye to Dad, shrugging past him as he walked out of the house, closing the front door behind him.

"Bella, what was that boy doing here?" he asked.

"Oh, Charlie, hush," Mom said as she walked down the stairs, a playful smile on her lips. "If he's anything like his father, Jacob couldn't harm a fly. Besides, better him than someone whose parents you don't know," she said before she hit him in the side with her elbow playfully. "Come on, you know that I'm right."

Dad sighed. "Yeah, yeah, you're always right," he muttered under his breath before turning to Emmett. "Take note, son. The women? They're always right."

"Always," Mom agreed with a wink. "Now go on and get dressed, we promised that we would get there early."

* * *

><p>"Thank God this is an informal party," Dad muttered as we got out of the Vibe, closing the doors behind us before we walked up the path that led to the porch. "I hated wearing that monkey suit."<p>

I had to agree with him. I wasn't a dress girl, far from it, but I would wear one if the situation called for it, and I was glad that this wasn't one of those. When we reached the door, Emmett, who was wearing just a plain white knit t-shirt and a pair of black jeans, knocked on the wood, waiting for someone to answer it.

The door was opened quickly, revealing Jason Biers' smiling face. "Glad you all can make it. People have already arrived and they're some of the best people you're going to meet. Come on in," he said, waving us in.

As I walked in, I got the sense that Jason's wife did a _lot_ of cleaning before this party started, as the house was seemingly spotless. There were people congregated on the couch and others standing near the backdoor, holding wine glasses as they conversed, and I suddenly felt like I shouldn't have come. It felt more like an adult only party.

"Bella, Emmett," Jason said, clapping his hands together. "The kids are in the basement, and I'll call you all when the food is ready to be served, alright?"

He must've known what I was thinking, because I had been wondering where Riley was, in the least, given that this _was_ his house. Emmett and I nodded before Jason pointed to the door that led to the basement.

"Thank God," Emmett muttered as we walked down the steps. "I was afraid this was an adult only party."

"Same here," I said before we reached the foot of the stairs, and I was definitely surprised to see the kids that were here.

"My Bella's here!" Alice called, clapping her hands together before she skipped over to me and wrapped her arms around me. "Oh, how I missed you."

Edward chuckled. "You saw her yesterday, Alice."

"Doesn't mean I can't miss my friend!" she retorted before sticking her tongue out at her brother.

Emmett and I stifled a laugh as I looked around the basement. There was a fridge and a bar area in the corner, most likely for the adults when they wanted to have time for themselves, and a door that led to what I presumed was the bathroom. Jasper and Riley both had a pool cue in their hands, standing next to the pool table that had red felt on it instead of the usual green, contrasted with rich, dark wood fixtures. Edward was standing in the corner, watching the boys play, most likely waiting to play the winner, and Rosalie was sitting in one of the many comfortable looking lounge chairs, a can of Cherry Coca Cola in her hands as she flipped through the channels on the large television.

If I didn't know any better, I'd say this is where Jason went when he wanted to avoid his family.

"Where are Seth and Angela?" I asked as I noticed their absence. They were a part of our group, so I was surprised to see that they weren't here.

Riley shrugged. "Well, I mean, this is more of a party for the adults. My dad…he doesn't really know their parents, same with my mom, so they didn't invite them."

Alice turned around to face me with a pout. "Are we not enough?"

I chuckled before I wrapped my arms around Alice, pressing my lips to her hairline. "Of course you are, Alice. You're more than I think even Emmett can handle."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Emmett asked, raising an eyebrow. "You don't think I can handle this munchkin? Come on, I have to have at least two feet on her!" he laughed before he patted Alice's head.

Alice, on the other hand, was not amused. Her eyes were almost non-existent as she glared at my brother. "I'm not _short_," she growled, and, I had to admit, it had me a bit freaked out. Alice didn't seem like the kind of girl who would get mad at anyone or anything, but now…wow…she got mad at my brother and he's a freaking monster!

"Oh boy," Edward said, walking over to his sister and putting his hands on her shoulders before he looked up at Emmett. "Forgive her. She's a bit…self-conscious about her height."

"And for your information, you're only about a foot taller than me! I'm five-foot-two! That's an average height for a woman!"

Jasper snorted. "Maybe in China."

Alice snapped her head in his direction, her eyes still in slits. "What was that?"

Jasper swallowed his throat. "Uh…nothing…hey, who wants drinks?" He leaned the pool cue against the wall before heading to the fridge. "Riley has about everything we like. Emmett and Bella, what are your preferences?"

"I'm a Dr. Pepper kind of girl," I said with a smile. "Thank you, Jasper."

"Root Beer, myself. I like the way it makes me belch," Emmett grinned.

I rolled my eyes just as Jasper gave us our drinks, handing Alice an Orange Crush before he put his Sprite on the table that was behind the couch and close to the pool table.

I cracked open my Dr. Pepper as I watched Riley position himself to hit the cue ball, his back to me. He was wearing a grey tank top, and I swore I saw something black underneath the fabric of his sleeves, like on the back of his shoulders. "Riley…do you have a…do you have a tattoo?" I asked as I tried to make out the black from where I was.

Riley turned to me with a chuckle. "Yeah, I do." He sat his pool cue on the pool table before taking off his shirt, and he turned around, showing his back to me.

The tattoo looked like it was written in foreign letters, maybe Japanese, and it reached from the back of his left shoulder to the back of his right shoulder, covering most of his upper back.

"It's Japanese," he said, confirming my suspicions. "My Uncle lives in Japan, and when we went to visit them, I was fascinated by the characters they have."

"What's it say?" Emmett asked. "Peace or something?"

"No, it says Riley," he said before turning back around and putting his tank top back on.

Jasper chuckled. "Bit conceited there, Riley?"

I pursed my lips as I tried to stifle a laugh. I don't think Riley was conceited, no, but, I had to admit, that was funny.

Riley rolled his eyes. "Shut up. Let's just get back to the game."

Alice and I walked over to the couch while Emmett nudged Edward with his elbow, trying to convince him to play foosball. I didn't see a foosball table, but, as I looked around, I saw one in the far corner. I also noticed that the couch was taken by two furry individuals.

"Aww," I said as I got to my knees and patted one of them on the head, scratching it on the ear while its tail thumped. "They're so cute!"

Alice giggled. "Sadie's mine," she said as she sat down next to the other dog, stroking her black overcoat. Her dog looked like a German Shepherd; mostly black with a brown muzzle, brown legs and a brown belly. The one I was petting looked more like a Labrador, solid black with a strong build to it.

"She's cute," I said before reaching over to pet Sadie who had leaned into my touch. "What about him?" I asked, pointing to the Lab.

Riley leaned over the couch and patted the Lab on the head, causing the dog to look up at him. "Ace is my boy. When I was twelve I begged my mom and dad for a little brother or sister and they thought that they'd get me to shut up with a dog. It worked; Ace is my buddy."

"Well, they're both very gorgeous dogs," I commented as I alternated between petting Ace and Sadie. They were so soft that I couldn't stand it; I had to pet them. "I've always wanted one."

Edward chuckled. "Well, you might get that chance. Sadie's pregnant with Ace's puppies."

"Really now?" I asked. Maybe I could convince Mom and Dad to let me have one…or two…or the whole litter…"They're going to make adorable puppies. Do you know when she's due?"

Alice shrugged. "About a month? We're not sure, but we do know we have a while to go before we have to worry about it."

"Unfortunately for Ace, this will be his first and last litter. We don't want it happening again," Riley chuckled as he patted Ace on the head one last time before turning back to the pool table.

Emmett sucked air through his teeth. "Harsh. No guy should go through that."

"Let's just hope he doesn't try to make a Great Escape like Marley did in Marley and Me," Rosalie teased.

"Well…he is the same breed as Marley so…I won't make the same mistake John Grogan did; the windows are going to stay up," Riley said with a grin.

"Edward? Are you down there?" I heard a female voice, one I didn't recognize; ask before I heard light footsteps descend down the stairs.

Edward must've recognized the voice, though, because he grinned widely. "Yeah, Kate, I am."

At the foot of the stairs was a blonde girl who was, which I didn't think was possible, skinnier than Alice, her hair falling down past her shoulders. She was wearing a pink blouse and a denim skirt, showing off her long and slender legs before she turned to see Edward, a smile on her lips.

She almost ran to him, wrapping her arms around his neck and tiptoeing to press her lips to his. Well…I was guessing that this was Edward's girlfriend.

"I missed you," she whispered when they pulled apart.

"I missed you too," Edward said with a smile.

Alice snorted. "What was it you said to me about my missing Bella? You just saw her yesterday, wasn't it?"

Edward rolled his eyes. "Oh, shut up," he said before turning to face us. "Bella, Emmett, I'd like you to meet Kate, my girlfriend."

Kate smiled and waved to both me and Emmett. "It's a pleasure to meet you all. I've seen you around school, and, normally I'd sit with Edward at lunch, but this week Jessica and Lauren really wanted to yack my arm off, more so than usual."

"Still trying to kick me off the squad?" Alice asked, a hint of humor to her tone.

"Of course. You know they're never going to stop," she said, mirth swirling around in her light blue eyes. "Oh, also, I'm Jasper and Rosalie's cousin. I'm not sure if they said anything about me, but don't believe it."

Jasper rolled his eyes. "Don't worry, Kate, we hadn't even mentioned you."

"Yeah, you're not as important as you think you are," Rosalie teased.

Kate crossed her arms with a huff. "Fine. See if I get you anything expensive for Christmas this year," she joked before turning to Edward. "So, what were you doing before I arrived?"

"Being a mopey ass and waiting for you?" Jasper offered.

"Oh, ha ha," Edward said. "Don't make me come over there and hit you, Jasper. You know I would do it."

"And you know I'm on the wrestling team, so you would know I would win," Jasper said with a grin.

For the next five minutes it continued on like that, Jasper and Edward bickering at each other while the rest of us just watched on like it was a show. Eventually, Edward did tackle Jasper, but Jasper quickly got him into a headlock.

"Say it!" he shouted, tightening his hold around Edward's neck.

"Say what?" Edward groaned.

Jasper grinned. "You know exactly what I mean."

Edward sighed. "Gay guys are better than straight guys," he said, his voice hoarse. Jasper released his hold and raised his fist into the air.

"Still champion!"

Edward rubbed his neck as he glared at the blonde who had defeated him. "One of these days I'm going to get you, Hale."

"We'll see about that, Cullen."

"You know," I said as I stood up, "I've got to agree with Edward. Gay guys do make the best girlfriends."

Rosalie laughed. "Try having one for a brother. I have access to the fashion sense of a gay guy twenty four seven."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Jasper said, holding out his hands to emphasize the fact he wanted us to stop. "I might be gay, but I'm not _that_ type of gay."

"Darn," I said, snapping my fingers in mock-disappointment.

"Jasper?" I heard a male voice called before I saw a man at the foot of the stairs, wearing a nice shirt and dress slacks. He looked familiar, his brown hair cut short and flattened down with gel or something of the like, blue-grey eyes that seemed to drift in my direction. "Can I talk to you?"

Jasper sighed and put the pool cue up against the wall. "Yeah, Dad," he said before he followed the man up the stairs.

That's when I recognized him. He was the man in the photo in Laura Hale's office. Wow…Jasper and Rosalie seemed to favor her more than him.

Riley watched Jasper before he disappeared and I thought it was time I talked to him.

"Riley, can I talk to you privately?" I asked. Now that he wasn't in the middle of a game, I didn't have to worry about him saying no.

"Sure," he said before he sat the pool cue down, following me to the bar area that was away from everyone else. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Look, before I ask you something, let me just tell you that you can tell me anything. I won't judge and I won't blurt out your business to everyone I see."

Riley nodded. "Uh…okay…" His tone told me that he was unsure of where I was going, and I sighed before I ran my hand through my hair.

"The other day, you told Emmett and me that you prefer blondes. I assumed it was Rosalie, until…I saw you at lunch…"

"Oh," Riley said before he scratched the back of his neck. "Is it that noticeable?"

"Well, my mother is pretty perceptive and I think I get that from her, so I think that's how I noticed but…it's okay, you know…you don't have to hide from your feelings."

"Oh, no," he chuckled. "That's not it. Not at all. I know I'm bisexual, if that's what you're thinking. It's just…" he sighed. "It's hard to talk about, okay?"

"Well, does Jasper know you like him?"

Surprisingly, Riley nodded. "Yeah, and I know he likes me, but…we can't do anything about it. At least, not yet."

"Why not?"

"Un-fucking-believable," Jasper said as he walked down the stairs. "I can't believe he asked me to do that."

Rosalie looked at her brother. "What? We don't have the twin mind-link going, so you're going to have to use words."

Jasper sighed. "Dad just asked me to ask Bella out on a date. I can't believe he did that!"

"Oh, God, not again," Rosalie said, shaking her head.

"Does he not know you swing for the other team or something?" Emmett asked.

"He knows, alright. He's been pushing me towards girls ever since I came out to him. Here I thought that that was over and he had finally accepted me but no, he was just waiting for a new girl to come a long." Jasper let out a groan before turning to Edward. "I need to let out some steam. You want to wrestle with me out in the backyard?"

Edward glanced at Kate who nodded fervently, obviously worried for her cousin, before Edward ran up the stairs with Jasper, Kate following behind.

"That's why," Riley whispered into my ear. "Jasper wants to be one hundred percent sure that his Dad won't pull a stunt like that again before he starts to date guys."

Well, that was honorable of Jasper, I had to give him that. "Well, I wish you guys the best in the future," if the time came, "because you two would make a cute couple."

Riley rolled his eyes before shoving me playfully. "Of course you'd think that. Girls find gay couples cute and guys find lesbian couples hot." He sighed. "But thanks, for listening. I don't think anyone else knows, and if they do, they haven't said anything. It's good to finally be able to tell someone."

"Well, you should be able to," I said, taking a drink of my Dr. Pepper. "So," I started, "have you two kissed at all?"

Riley laughed. "Now _that's_ a bit too personal, don't you think?"

_I'll take that as a yes. _"Alright, I'll drop it."

For the remainder of the party, I got to talk with Rosalie and Alice about girl stuff, mainly going shopping to the mall. I wasn't the shopping type of girl, and they swore that they'd convert me before my next birthday. When I told them that my birthday was next month, Alice had grinned and said "that's plenty of time". Now I have a shopping date next Sunday with the two of them.

Emmett eventually stole Rosalie away, talking to her about something, I wasn't listening, and Alice had my undivided attention, talking to me about her parents and what they did for a living. Apparently her father was Chief of Staff at the Hospital, I joked and told her that I'd probably visit him on more than one occasion, giving my klutziness, and her mother was an Interior Decorator; she even told me that she was interested in pursuing a career as an Interior Decorator. It suited, her I thought.

Regardless, I was glad I had come to this party. I was sure that I was going to be good friends with Alice, Riley, and everyone else.

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><p><strong>AN: Whoo. This chapter was a long one to get written. Pictures as to what Riley's tattoo, Robert, Sadie and Ace look like are linked on my profile, as are the links to any characters you might be curious about.**

**Next chapter we get to see more Alice/Bella interaction. :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**The Twilight Saga is the rightful property of Stephenie Meyer. I only take credit for my own ideas.**

**Note: Song at the beginning is Beyonce's **_Crazy in Love_**.**

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><p><strong>Chapter Five<strong>

The first sound I noticed as I drifted out of the dream realm was the sound of something vibrating before music began to blare, some guy yelling out "Yes! So crazy right now! Most incredibly. It's your girl b. It's your boy young. History in the makin'," over the sound of a familiar beat.

With a groan I sat up and looked at my night stand, looking at the rectangular piece of metal that lit up. Realization set in and I knew that someone was calling me. My hands reached out to grab my phone, pressing the call button before putting the phone to my ear.

"Hello?" I asked groggily, rubbing my eyelids before I checked my clock. It was six-thirty-five; five minutes before my alarm was going to go off anyway.

"_Bella!"_ someone practically yelled on the other end, their voice way too hyper for this early in the morning. _"I didn't wake you up, did I?"_

Another groan escaped my lips before I rubbed my chin, realizing that it was wet. Eww. Did I drool last night? That wasn't attractive. "Um…no…I was…I was up," I lied through my teeth before a yawn overcame me.

"_Aww, Bella, you don't have to lie to me. I'm sorry,"_ her voice sounded before I heard a sigh on the other line. _"I should've listened to Edward when he said you wouldn't be up this early. I should've waited to call you. I'm so so—"_

"If you say I'm sorry, again, I'll let the air out of the tires of your Bug," I threatened before I sighed. "So what was it you wanted?"

"_Oh, well, I was just going to ask you if you'd meet us outside before school started, but…well…I guess that could've been saved as a text, right?"_

I chuckled. _You think? _"No, Alice, it's okay. I was going to get up soon, anyway," I said before I reached over and clicked my alarm clock off, that way it wouldn't blare out its annoying beeping, waking up anyone that was still asleep. Though, judging from the sound of the shower running in the room next to mine, and the sound of the feet scuffling down the stairs, I gathered that they were already awake. "I could do that, though. Why do you want me to meet you there?"

"_You don't want to meet your friends before school? I'm hurt,"_ she said, and it sounded like if I could see her face, there would've been a pout to that voice.

"Alright, alright, I get it. I need to get ready, now. See you there?"

"_Okay. Bye, Bella!" _she said before I heard a distinct click. Setting my phone to the side, I threw the covers off of me and walked to the bathroom door just as I heard the shower turn off. Knocking on the door timidly, I put my ear to the wood, listening to hear what my brother was doing.

"Emmett?" I called, knocking on the door once more. "How much longer are you going to be?"

Almost instantly the door was opened, almost knocking me over given the fact that I had my ear pressed into it, leaning against the door as I waited for a response, and I stumbled into my brother's arms, who chuckled as he stood me straight.

"Easy there, Klutzilla," he teased with a grin. He was wearing only a towel around his waist, covering up the part of him I didn't really want to see, thankfully, and I could see that my brother had started to grow a happy trail. Wow. I didn't need to know that. "I'm done. I was just about to head to my room."

"Oh, well, I was waiting so I could take a shower but I see that I don't have to wait any longer."

Emmett reached up and mussed my hair before turning around. "Shower's all yours," he called over his shoulder, walking into his room and closing the door behind him.

Heading towards my dresser, I picked out a shirt that read _RIOT! _and a pair of black jeans, and undergarments, before walking into the bathroom. While I took my shower, I began to think about this upcoming weekend and what it would bring.

One, I'd get to visit First Beach. I hadn't done that since I was last up here, about a year ago, and even then, it was freezing, so I was looking forward to seeing the natural sights.

Two, it would be my first date with Jake. I had been thinking about what the turnout would be. Would we kiss? Would he want to go on another date with me after that? What if I wasn't what he was expecting and he ditched me to go with his friends?

Shaking my head to rid of the worries, I hopped out of the shower and quickly dried off before putting on my outfit, walking down the steps and into the kitchen to find a plate of scrambled eggs and toast waiting for me at my usual place. Mom was eating hers as she did some of the dishes and made a pot of coffee, Dad was reading the newspaper, and Emmett was scarfing down his breakfast.

"Emmett, don't choke, son," Dad said, not looking from his newspaper. He didn't have to; we all knew how Emmett ate when he was hungry.

And that was often.

My brother didn't listen; he only stopped to chug down his milk before returning to his food. Rolling my eyes at my brother, I began to cut into my own food, savoring the taste of the eggs before I took a bite of my toast.

"So," my mother started as she sat down at her seat, leaving a pan in the sink to soak, "make any friends at school?" she asked, primarily to me, considering she was looking in my direction.

Swallowing my food, because I had better manners than to talk with food in my mouth, unlike _someone_, I gave my mom a friendly smile before answering her. "Yeah, I have, actually. A few of them, too."

"Oh, that's good!" she said, clapping her hands together. "Any of them I know?"

"More importantly," Dad said, folding his newspaper so that he could give me a stern look, "are any of them boys?"

"Well, yeah, but they're taken," well, Riley wasn't, but he was off the market because he was waiting for someone else, "and Jasper's gay, so you don't have to worry about him."

Mom raised an eyebrow. "Dr. Hale's boy? He's gay? That's strange. Robert kept trying to ask me if I would set you up with him."

"Yeah, Jasper said his father hadn't come to terms with his coming out," I explained. "He said that his dad was trying to force him to date girls, but…Jasper's getting fed up with it."

"Jake's not taken," Emmett said, food still in his mouth, as he turned to me. "Why'd you say he was?"

"Jake? The guy that was here Saturday?" Dad asked, raising his own eyebrow. "He's single?"

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I shot a quick glare at Emmett before turning to Dad. "Well, yeah, and we uh…we kind of…have a date on Saturday. This Saturday, I mean."

"Oh, sweetie, he's a cutie," Mom winked.

_Well, I wasn't worried about her reaction. _

"If-If that's okay with you, Dad," I said, smiling at him.

"Of course it is!" Dad laughed. "Man, can you imagine it? Me and Billy being in-laws? It would be like the good old days."

Wow. I hadn't expected him to take it so well. I figured he would get mad because I was only fifteen and I shouldn't be dating until I was thirty. Well, that's what he said, anyway. "Thanks, Dad!" I said, glancing at the clock. I could see that it was getting closer to the time for me to leave, so I quickly ate my food before giving my father a kiss on the cheek and my mother a hug.

Emmett was already in the Jeep by the time I walked out of the house, leaning out of the window with huge sunglasses on, even if it wasn't that sunny out. He flashed me a grin as I got in before he turned the radio up all the way, causing the vehicle to vibrate. I was tempted to shut off the radio, but I knew that if I did that, Emmett would be pissed and I would regret it.

Him being pissed usually ended up with me being tickled until I had to pee. That was his revenge against me, considering he was massive.

We pulled into the school parking lot and I saw Kate and Alice practicing their cheers while the others watched. As soon as I got out of the Jeep I heard a "Bella!" before turning around to see Alice waving her arms.

Chuckling, I gripped my backpack closer to me before walking over there and right into a hug. "Well, hello to you too," I said, grinning as Alice let go of me.

"I missed you!"

"You saw her two days ago," Edward said, rolling his eyes.

"And you saw Kate two days ago, but that didn't stop you from swapping spit for five minutes now did it?" Alice retorted, putting her hands on her hips as she looked at her brother with a raised eyebrow.

"Ooh, burn," Emmett said as he walked up behind me. "That's got to hurt."

Edward shrugged. "I'm used to living with her, and, Bella, I told her not to call you. She's surprisingly one of those people who can be upbeat no matter what time it is."

"Yeah," I said with a chuckle, "I kind of figured that."

"Bit of a spit-fire, ain't she?" Emmett asked. "Man, it would suck if Bells was like that. Imagine; hyper and klutziness combined. Now that ain't a good combination," he laughed.

Everyone else joined him as I ribbed my older brother with an elbow.

"Swan!" I heard a familiar voice call out so I looked up to see Coach Clapp looking in our direction, waving his hand. "Come over here."

"Ooh," Emmett said, "I need to see what he wants." He jogged towards the Coach before both of them walked out of view.

"I thought he was talking to you for a second there," Jasper said before turning his head back to Riley, asking about baseball once more.

Well, it looked like I wasn't going to get a conversation out of either of them anytime soon. Turning to Alice with a smile, I asked her about our Geometry homework.

"Oh, right, we had homework," she said in a sour tone before grabbing her backpack off the top of a Volvo. I learned that Edward was the owner of that car, and I had to keep myself from laughing since Edward had glared at me at the first sign of hysterics. "Do you mind looking over it for me? I'm not sure if I got anything right…"

"Yeah, of course," I said as I waited for her to get out the homework. She had a couple wrong, though she thought she would have more than that, and I showed her what was wrong about it before I felt someone tap my shoulder, causing me to jump. Who the hell was that?

Turning around, I found Jake looking at me with a grin. "Hey, Bella," he said before wrapping his arms around my waist in a small hug, his stomach against mine. God damn, even in a hug I could feel how muscular he was underneath his shirt, which, today, was a Seahawks jersey with the number "51" etched on the front. "How're you doing this morning?"

"Good," I said, returning the smile. "You?"

"Great, now that I've seen you," he said with a wink before scratching the back of his neck. "So, did you know your brother tried out for the football team?"

I nodded. I knew he was planning too, but I didn't think he was going to do it until next week. "Yeah, he was talking about it, why?"

"Well, Coach had the team pick who we wanted as our quarterback, because he was tied between Emmett and Felix Cudmore, and…well…"

"Emmett didn't get it?" Wow, that was really going to disappoint him.

"No, he did," he said before taking a deep breath. "We just don't think Felix is going to take the news well; he's a bit of a hot-head when it comes to his spot."

Rosalie sighed so I turned around to face her in time to see her shake her head. "That tells me to stay away from him, then."

"Anyway, I thought I should tell you," Jake said so I turned to face him, and he was smiling, "so you can tell your folks. I'll see you in History, okay?"

"Yeah, see you there," I said, giving him a one-armed hug before turning to Alice as he left. She had her lips pursed and her eyes followed him as he left. "What?"

She shook her head and smiled. "Nothing, but…you're going to be my new Geometry study-buddy, I hope you know."

I rolled my eyes. "Figured that, too."

We talked a bit more about Geometry, I told her that I had already taken this course and she declared me a cheater before giggling and saying that she'd use my brain for her devious plans. The bell rang, though, so we all scattered to our classes, and, as I walked into History, I began hoping that maybe Jake and I would be able to pass notes again.

Unfortunately, we had a test in there, one I forgot to study for so I used all of class time trying to rack my brain for any of the information being asked. Jake was finished halfway through class and he started texting on his cellphone, and, since we were in the back, Mrs. Yorkie didn't notice. I briefly wondered who he as texting, as all of his friends were in class and you weren't _supposed_ to text during school hours, before I realized that time was winding down and I still had a few questions to go.

By the time the bell rang, I felt satisfied that I at least got a D on a test I wasn't prepared for, before I headed to my Geometry class, taking my seat next to Alice with a smile on my face. Jessica, on the other hand, rolled her eyes and whispered something to her friend, Lauren Mallory, before they snickered. Note to self: Stay away from those two.

As Mr. Bates began his lecture, a piece of paper was tossed onto my desk and, as I looked at it, I heard someone clear their throat from next to me. Glancing at Alice I saw that she nodded to the note before turning her attention back to Mr. Bates, her hands clasped together as she tried to look innocent.

Picking up the note and unfolding it, my eyes studied her words as I laid the paper flat on my desk.

_You like Jacob Black, huh? _it read in her bubbly handwriting that clearly reflected her personality.

Pursing my lips, I grabbed my pencil and scribbled my response of _Yeah, I do, why? _before handing it back to her, my eyes on Mr. Bates demonstrating the differences between obtuse and acute angles, though, really, we learned about those in elementary school.

After about a minute, the note was returned to me, unfolded, and I could clearly see her answer.

_It's nothing, really…just…there's something about him I don't trust. You should be careful around him, Bella. I can't put my finger on it but something is telling me that he isn't a nice guy._

Turning to look at her, I saw that she gave me a half-hearted smile, almost trying to make sure that I wasn't mad at her for what she wrote, before I turned back to the paper.

_Jake's been nothing but nice to me, Alice. If there was something wrong with him I would've found out already. I'm usually a good judge of character._

Alice sighed as she read my note before I saw her pencil move against the paper, the led scratching her words into it, before she handed it back to me.

_Alright, I'm sorry I brought it up, but please, be careful._

Giving her a slight nod I stuffed the note into my backpack, waiting for this class to end as I listened to Mr. Bates drone on and on about something that we already knew about, trying to seem enthusiastic even as students were talking and falling asleep. The bell finally rang, though, and I swear I saw Mr. Bates breathe a sigh of relief before turning back to his desk, gathering the papers that had collected there.

Standing up out of my own desk, I stuffed my notebook into my backpack before I felt someone tap my shoulder. Turning around I saw Alice giving me an apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry if I overstepped my boundaries, it just seemed that the two of you were really hitting it off and I just wanted to look out for my friend," she said before shrugging. "It's none of my business, anyway, so I'll see you at lunch?"

I nodded as I threw my backpack over my shoulder. "Yeah, see you there."

With that, we headed to our third period classes, and, as soon as I walked in, I was bombarded by Mike and Eric as I sat down at our table.

"So, Bella, you want to have lunch with me," Mike asked as he leaned over the table, flashing me a smile. "We could talk about the beach, this weekend. I bet you'll have fun."

Jessica scoffed as she crossed her arms. "I don't want her at our table, Mike. If she's going to fraternize with the dyke I don't think she should be allowed to sit at the popular table."

I snorted as I rolled my eyes. "Please," I started, "just because I'm friends with _Alice_," I said, stressing her name so that Jessica would know that that _dyke _had a name, "doesn't mean I can't be popular."

"No, but you definitely won't be when she turns you. Just you watch," she said with a sneer before flipping her hair over her shoulder, looking at the front just as Mr. Berty walked in.

Damn. I couldn't give her a witty comeback.

With a sigh I just listened to Mr. Berty, fighting off the drowsy haze that crept to my eyelids, almost making them want to close so that I would be able to drift to dream land, when the bell rang. Maybe I did doze off? Regardless, seeing as I loved to read and had read _To Kill A Mockingbird _before, I grabbed my backpack and trudged into the cafeteria, heading for the lunch line as I tried to wake myself up, still drowsy from my mini-nap.

Grabbing the items for my tray, a pizza, fries, green beans and an apple, I gave the lunch lady my number and headed for my table, smiling as I sat down. "Hey," I said before taking a bite of my apple.

"So," Seth started, leaning forward in his chair, "we heard that you missed us."

My eyebrows knitted together in confusion before I realized what they meant. Someone must've told them I was looking for them at the barbeque. Narrowing my eyes into slits, I turned to look at the others at the table. "Alright, who ratted me out?"

Alice giggled but shook her head. "Not me. I would never rat out a friend."

Angela snorted. "You would if there was a shopping trip at stake."

"Would not!" Alice defended, but both Rosalie and Angela gave her a look. With a defeated sigh, Alice crossed her arms. "Alright, I would, but that's only because shopping is a girl's best friend."

"I thought that was diamonds?" Kate asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, diamonds too, but…shopping is _this_ girl's best friend," Alice said, pointing to herself.

Rosalie huffed. "I see how it is; take shopping over a real best friend. Great friend you are, Alice."

"Sorry, Rosie, but…shopping is my one true mistress. No one can stand in her way," Alice said before taking one of my fries, seeing as she didn't have a lunch, and popping it into her mouth with a triumphant smile.

"You know, I've got a question to ask," I started after I finished the second bite of my apple. "What do the parties at First Beach usually consist of?"

Edward ran a hand through his hair. "Well, nothing like the barbeque we went to on Saturday, that's for sure."

Jasper nodded in agreement. "Yeah, there aren't any dads there to tell you to date this girl or that girl."

"And there is some alcohol floating around, it's not that hard to get some. I think one of the guys down at La Push, one who is legal, buys a lot and sells it to us underage kids," Rosalie said before grabbing her pizza slice, shrugging. "It's not something I would do, but, hey, at least there is a way to get a buzz going."

Raising an eyebrow, I gave her an incredulous look. "You've drank before?"

Jasper snorted. "How do you think she ended up with Felix?"

That, in turn, resulted in a slap from his sister.

Edward cleared his throat. "Well, you know, there isn't much to do in Forks besides go to parties. We don't have a shopping mall, we don't have a movie theater, so, the best thing _to_ do is go to the beach and divulge in illegal activities."

"Like what?" I asked.

"Underage drinking," Seth said, using his fingers to count off what he was saying, "drug use, indecent exposure…basically, when the sun goes down, the teens go _crazy_."

"So, have you all…had alcohol before?" As the daughter of a cop, I was raised to not drink until I was twenty-one, something I was planning on sticking to.

Everyone pursed their lips and looked away, save for Angela and Seth, probably because they knew I was the daughter of a cop and they didn't want to go to jail for something they said. After a minute of silence Seth raised his hand.

"Not me," he said, giving me a smile.

"Alice?" I asked, turning to her.

"I've had one or two, but I mean, it's not like I got drunk and I was driving, and even when I did get drunk, Edward was the designated driver," Alice said with an apologetic expression etched into her face. "I'm sorry. Does that make me a bad person?"

I shook my head. "No, it's just…my dad is a cop, so you know that he pushes for legal substance abuse only. I've been raised to wait."

Jasper crossed his arms with a snort. "For some reason, I don't think your brother follows those values."

"What makes you think that?" Surely Emmett hasn't had a drink before.

Edward shrugged. "I've got to agree with Jasper. Emmett seems like he's the kind of guy who enjoys going to parties and getting a buzz."

"Here's your chance to ask him," Jasper said, using his chin to point behind me. Turning around, I saw my brother just before he placed his large palm on my shoulder, a grin on his lips.

"Hey, Bells," he said, rubbing my shoulder before throwing me a thumbs-up. "I got quarterback."

"Yeah," I said with a smile, "Jake told me. Dad's going to be proud of you."

Emmett nodded. "Yeah, and Coach said that the scouts that were looking at me down in San Fran are interested in me enough to follow. Maybe I can play for the Seahawks."

"Could I get your autograph now, before you're famous?" Edward teased with a chuckle, throwing his arm around Kate. "No, man, that's great. Congratulations. I hope you go far in your football career."

He shrugged. "Well, I don't want to become a pro, just do some college ball, that way I have scholarships to pay for my tuition and all that. Plus, one day I want to settle down and have kids, and that would be hard to do if I end up with a brain injury that makes me forget my own name, ya know?"

Jasper nodded. "So you're a family man, eh?"

"A family man in a bear's body," he chuckled, causing us all to laugh before he turned to Rosalie. "Hey, I hope your boyfriend didn't take it too harshly. I mean, I know that he _was _the quarterback."

"He should be fine," she said, "I hadn't heard from him today so I'm not sure what he thinks, but I can tell you, he'll get over it once he brushes up his ego. It'll probably be a little bruised."

Emmett grinned. "Yeah, I know that if I held the Q-B spot for three years I'd be pretty pissed too. Let's just hope he doesn't tak—"

"Swan!" we heard someone yell, so I turned around to see Felix getting up from his chair, rolling up the arm of his sleeve as he glared at my brother, his jaw tight and his face red.

Well, as they say, speak of the devil and he's sure to appear.

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><p><strong>AN: Oh snap. What's going on here? **

**The Official Guide didn't give Felix a last name so I gave him Cudmore. Sue me.**

**Next chapter Emmett and Felix have a talk that ends up with Bella in the hospital. Oh dear.**


	6. Chapter 6

**The Twilight Saga is the rightful property of Stephenie Meyer. I only take credit for my own ideas.**

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><p><strong>Chapter Six<strong>

"Felix," Rosalie muttered under her breath, shaking her head as her massive boyfriend walked over this way, his lip curled over his teeth in a half-snarl.

"I've got a bone to pick with you," Felix shouted, causing the students in the cafeteria to turn away from their lunches, looking at the two football players that stood around our table. A blush crept across my cheek as I realized that Felix was drawing unnecessary and unwanted attention, something I personally didn't like.

Emmett pursed his lips as he watched the ex-quarterback walk up to him, practically stomping his way over here, before Felix got in his face. "Whoa, dude, you got some rank breath," Emmett teased, waving his hand in front of his own face.

"Listen, _dude_," Felix mocked, "I don't know who you think you are but you can't barge into this school and think you're the big man on campus. That's me! I'm the boss here."

"Easy man," my brother raised his hands in front of him, "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm just living my life, bro."

Felix barked a laugh. "Oh, I'm sure you know _exactly_ what I'm talking about, _bro_," he said through gritted teeth before I noticed his fists clenched together. "You think you can walk into this school and have everything at your feet? First the quarterback position and now my girl? You've got some nerve, boy, and you better start explaining yourself."

With a shrug, Emmett crossed his arms. "Maybe if you were a better player you wouldn't have lost the position."

_Oh, Emmett_, I thought as I shook my head. My brother liked to deal with these guys who thought they were all that by joking with them, _especially _if they were about to get into a brawl. He thought it was his way of trying to "stop the violence" but really, it just pissed people off more.

And you could tell that that was the reaction that Felix was having right about now.

"Fuck you!" he said, spit flying out of his mouth (eww) as he jabbed his finger into my brother's chest. "I'm the best God damn player in this town. I'm going to make it big."

"Obviously not," Emmett shrugged again, "or else you'd still be quarterback."

Felix's lip twitched before he pointed a finger at Rose. "Then why were you over here trying to steal my girl, huh? I know she's hot as fuck but that doesn't give you the excuse to take her from me."

_Like you're better for her? Please, I saw you cheating on her, scumbag, _I thought as I tried to avoid the stares that the students were giving, taking a sip out of my water.

"Guys can't talk to girls without it being flirty? Really?" my brother asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Not ones who are out to get me," Felix answered before he put his hands on my brother's shoulder and shoved him. "Stay the fuck away from my girlfriend alright?"

Emmett's lip twitched, and I knew that that meant he was getting close to losing it. Normally he wasn't one for fights, but if you pushed his buttons, shit was about to go down.

My brother took a deep breath, however, and cocked his head to the side. "Kind of hard to do if our parents are friends, right?"

Felix shoved him once more before grabbing the fabric of his shirt, crinkling it in fists as he got into Emmett's face. "Stay. The Fuck. Away." Letting go of Emmett's shirt, I could see that Felix was _this _close to throwing a punch, his hands still clenched into fists as he glared at my older brother.

"You really want to do this?" Emmett asked, raising an eyebrow. "You really want to get your ass beat by the guy who stole your spot on the football team? Won't that just be proving why I got it?"

Oh shit, Emmett was done teasing and he was going straight for vulgarity. That meant that his buttons had been pushed. Standing up, I sidled myself in between the two giants, looking at my brother with concern in my eyes.

"Emmett, don't," I said, putting my hand on his shoulder. "You'll get suspended."

"That's right, let the _girl_ save you," Felix barked, turning to look over at the jock table, his friends laughing with him.

Emmett's lip twitched as he glared at Felix. "Bells, get out of the way. I have to do this."

"No, Emmett," I said, "think…what would Mom and Dad say?"

"Move out of the way, Girl Scout," Felix called before I felt his hand on my wrist, almost like a vice grip as I was thrown out of the way.

Being the clumsy girl I was, I didn't like being thrown or pushed or whatever, as it usually ended up in an injury. To prevent my skull from being cracked on the tiled floor, I turned around and let my hands catch my fall, only as soon as I was done falling, I felt a sharp, intense pain in my left wrist.

Turning over on my right side, I let out a "Fuck" while holding my arm with my right hand.

Emmett looked concerned as he looked at me before I saw the fury in his eyes. "That's it. No fucker messes with my sister," he said before he sent a fist flying towards Felix's face.

No one seemed worried about me as they all chanted "fight", watching the two large boys brawl in the middle of the cafeteria, hoping to see some blood. That was great.

"Let me help you up," I heard someone whisper before I turned to see Jake bending down next to me, offering his hands. "Come on," he said, flashing his dazzling smile.

Nodding my head fervently, I grabbed his hands with my one good one and let him pick me up off of the ground. Once I was on my feet, he threw my arm over his shoulders, which caused me to chuckle.

"It's not my leg that hurts, it's my wrist," I said, showing him my left wrist.

Since he was a boy and boys were curious, he poked it, which resulted in me sucking in air through my teeth. "Ooh," he said with an apologetic grin, "sorry."

I rolled my eyes. "Can you take me to the nurses' station? I don't think the teachers are going to be worried about me," I nodded towards the two boys who were now moved to the wall, Felix's back pressed up against it as Emmett threw punches left and right. The teachers would be arriving soon and I had a feeling they'd need more than two to pull those two apart.

Jake nodded and walked me around the crowd that gathered around the dueling boys before we ended up in the hallway. Coach Clapp and several other staff members were racing down the hall way, their shoes slapping against the floor like crazy, before they all shouted at the students in the cafeteria.

_Glad I wasn't in there_.

Jake and I walked, though not with my arm around his shoulder, to the nurses' station before he knocked on the door, leaning against the door frame casually.

The nurse looked up from her desk. "How may I help you?"

"I think I broke my wrist?" I said, though it came out more like a question, before I walked in, trying to be careful and not move my wrist at all.

She looked at it, twisting it and turning it, causing it to hurt _more_, before she nodded. "Might be broken, might have a sprain. Hard to tell without an x-ray. I'll write you a note to get you out of class so you can go to the hospital. Do you need me to call your parents to take you?"

"She has a ride," Jake answered. "She just needs a note."

"I don't let students go out of the building without their parents," she said, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Both of my parents are working, though, and my brother is probably about to get suspended," I said truthfully. "Please. Can you make this one exception?"

She pursed her lips before sighing. "Just this once, I suppose. I will call your parents to have them meet you at the hospital, though."

I nodded. "That's okay. I just don't want to wait here for them."

"Run along now and hope it's not too busy at the hospital," she said with a nod as Jake stood up, offering his hand before we walked out of the school building. Despite my wrist hurting, I was glad that Jake was with me, he was just…warm. I couldn't describe it.

Regardless, I was going to the hospital, which wasn't a trip to the ballpark for someone as clumsy as me. Or someone who hated attention like me.

With a sigh I climbed into Jake's Mustang and prayed no one would bother me at the hospital.

* * *

><p>"You sure you don't need anything, Bella?" Jake asked for the umpteenth time now, his foot tapping impatiently against the carpet. "Water? A pillow for your wrist?"<p>

"I just need them to hurry up, Jake," I said, throwing my head against the back of the chair while we waited in the waiting room at Forks General. We had signed in about thirty minutes ago, but no one had yet to come and get me.

"You could always feign chest pains. I know that doctors and nurses always get worried when someone complains about their chest hurting and they rush them to the back. Yeah, they might not see you right away, but at least you won't be in the waiting room any longer," he suggested with a shrug.

Biting my lip, I looked around the waiting room. The Hospital at Forks also operated as a doctor's office, considering Forks was such a small town, and you could tell that some of the people here were just waiting for their doctor's nurse to call them back. There was a woman with a screaming toddler, trying to hush him as quickly as she could, as well as a man who sneezed into a tissue.

"It's not the waiting that's bothering me," I started as I glanced at a woman with a cast on her right leg, crutches leaning against the chair next to her. She saw me looking and casted a smile before reaching for her phone. "It's the attention."

Jake chuckled. "Really? You don't care about being in a waiting room full of sick people? I'm afraid I'm going to catch their germs just by being in the same room."

I rolled my eyes. "It's not funny, Jake. I just don't like attention."

"I would've figured someone as beautiful as you would be used to attention by now," he said, looking into my eyes as his left hand started to reach for my right, his lips pursed and his brow knitted together.

Suddenly, he leaned forward, closing his eyes as he attempted to close the distance between us. My breath was caught in my throat as I realized what was happening.

_Dear lord. Here? Now? _my mind raced as I closed my eyes, trying to prepare myself for what was about to happen.

"Bella?" I heard a familiar voice call and I immediately wanted to smack my forehead. Thanks Dad. Great timing. Opening my eyes and turning towards the doors, I saw my Dad walking in, decked out in his uniform, complete with the bulky jacket. "What happened? Why did the nurse at school call and say you were at the hospital?"

"Hi, Dad," I said with a smile as Jake cleared his throat.

"I'm going to uh…see what's taking so long," he said before he stood up and walked towards the counter.

"What's he doing here with you?" Dad asked, pointing to Jake. "Did he hurt you?"

I shook my head and stood up, trying to be careful and not move my left wrist _at all_. "No. Emmett was about to get in a fight with this guy named Felix so I tried to stop them but Felix threw me out of the way and when I tried to catch myself with my hands, I think I might've landed on my wrist the wrong way and broke it. Jake took me to the nurse and then he drove me here."

Dad looked at me skeptically for a minute before he sighed. "Alright, well, are you in any pain?"

Pursing my lips, I looked at my wrist. It was still hurting, heck, it was still hurting _a lot_ but I didn't want to sound like a girl that couldn't handle an injury. After all, being as clumsy as I was, I was used to injuries. This wasn't as bad as when I broke my leg after Emmett did a "cannonball" on the trampoline, sending me flying into the grass when I was ten, so I knew I could handle it.

"Just a bit," I said, feigning a smile. "I'm fine, Dad, don't worry."

"Uh-huh," he said with a nod as he crossed his arms. "How long have you been here?"

"About thirty minutes?" I said, though as it escaped my lips it came out more like a question.

Dad looked at the counter just as Jake started to walk back to us. "Give me a minute," he said before he headed for the counter, talking to the nurse that sat there.

Jake walked up to me, glancing behind him before he sighed. "Well, since he's here, I guess I can go. Call me when you get home?"

I nodded. "Thanks, Jake, I know you didn't have to do this."

He grinned. "Don't worry about it, Bells. I'll see you tomorrow," he said before pulling me into a quick hug. "And I can't wait for Saturday," he whispered into my ear before he broke the hug and headed for the doors.

With a sigh I turned to see my father in a heated discussion with the nurse. "—I'm the Chief of Police! My daughter has been here for over a half an hour and still has yet to be seen. What kind of hospital are you running?" he half-yelled at the nurse, who looked at him with pursed lips.

"Sorry, sir, we're just busy today…" she said before grabbing the phone. "Let me see if there are any doctors available…" she glanced at me as I walked up to the counter next to my father, trying not to look embarrassed at his outburst, before she started to press buttons on the receiver.

"I'll take it from here, Gianna," I heard a voice say and I turned to see this _gorgeous_ blonde man walking towards us, a smile on his face. I had to take a deep breath as I searched for cameras around me, because I suddenly felt like I was in an episode of Grey's Anatomy or Private Practice considering that this guy was just…not what I'd picture a doctor to look like.

His blonde hair was slicked back and his blue eyes reminded me of the ocean, his smile almost dazzling. He wore a white coat and a stethoscope around his neck, not something I was surprised about, as well as a badge on his pocket that read "Dr. Cullen, Chief of Staff".

My eyes widened. _Holy Hell…_this _is Alice's dad? Jesus Christ…no wonder they were good-looking. _

"Chief Swan," Dr. Cullen said, offering his hand to my father, "it's a pleasure to see you again and I'm sorry for the wait. How may I help you?"

Dad took the doctor's hand and nodded gruffly in my direction. "My daughter was involved in a…scuffle at school and she thinks she broke her wrist."

Dr. Cullen nodded with a smile before turning to me. "You must be Bella," he said, offering his hand to me, "Alice has been talking non-stop about you."

"All good things, I hope," I said with a chuckle as I took his hand with my good hand and shook it.

"Of course, my daughter thinks highly of you," he said with a wink before motioning towards a door. "If you'd follow me, I can escort you to a private room."

We both nodded as we followed him, and I had to admit, I _was _surprised that the Chief of Staff was taking the time out of his schedule to personally see me, a girl with a broken wrist. I could understand if I was having chest pains or a stroke or something, but a broken wrist?

As I walked into the room I had to stifle a laugh as I saw a lamp in the corner that reminded me of the one in the Pixar animation that squishes the 'I'. I got up onto the bed, being careful of my left wrist, of course, before he sat in the desk chair and rolled closer to me.

"Alright, I'm just going to poke your wrist and if it hurts, let me know," he said, looking at me expectantly until I nodded. He reached up and, with one finger, pressed down lightly on my wrist, but that was enough to make the sharp pain I was feeling worse.

"It hurts," I managed to say through gritted teeth.

"Mmm," he said before rolling towards the counter and grabbing the phone. "Nurse Biers? Can you page Ortho to room 121?" he asked into the receiver before nodding. "Thank you." He placed the phone back in its place before giving me a platonic expression. "Well, it appears that you might have a break, but I won't be for certain until we can get an x-ray. After all, I specialized in cardiology and not orthopedics," he added with a wink. "I'm going to go and rush your paper work so that it can be ready before Dr. Hale gets in here to look at you, alright?" he said, standing up from his chair. "Good to see you again, Chief, and nice to finally meet the infamous Bella Swan," he waved before he walked out of the room, leaving Dad and me alone in the room together.

"How bad does it hurt?" he asked.

I shrugged. "Not as bad as you'd think." Of course, that was a lie, because it was hurting like hell, but I didn't want him to know that. Dads were fiercely protective over their daughters.

"Maybe it's just a sprain," he suggested. "If it were a break it would be hurting worse, right?"

"Let's hope so," I said, feigning a smile just as I heard a soft vibrating hum coming from his pocket.

Dad furrowed his brow in confusion before he pulled out his phone, sighing when he saw who was calling. Putting the phone to his ear, he answered with a "Hey, honey," before rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Yeah, I heard, Bella told me."

_Oh_, I thought, _Mom must've heard about the fight._

"How bad is his punishment?" Dad asked, nodding to what he was hearing. "Yeah, that sounds reasonable. At least it wasn't suspension, I wonder how that would look on his permanent record. Well, tell him I'm not mad and tell him I'm glad he stood up for his little sister," he glanced in my direction as he said this.

We could hear a voice on the other side of the door so Dad quickly said goodbye to Mom, throwing in the obligatory "I love you", just as the doctor walked in, and I smiled when I recognized who it was. Dr. Hale as in Jasper and Rosalie's father. His brown hair was slicked back with either hair gel or water and you could tell that he was a little grey around the edges, a light stubble covering his chin. He wore a white lab coat as well, but, unlike Carlisle, he was holding a clipboard.

"Chief Swan, pleasure seeing you here," he said with a grin as he looked at my father. "Though not under the circumstances."

"No, Robert, certainly not," Dad chuckled. "This here is my Bella," he gestured towards me, "I don't think the two of you had a chance to meet."

Dr. Hale, or Robert, as Dad called him, turned to face me with a smile. "Hello, Bella. Glad to finally meet you, even under this situation. You've met my son, Jasper, haven't you?" he asked as he walked to the chair, casting a smile in my direction.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. _I wonder where this is going. _"Yeah, I have. He's really nice. I met Rose, too."

He nodded. "Well, I'm glad that you met them both. You know, you should consider taking Jasper out on a date; I know he speaks fondly of you."

_Of course_. "Yeah…I don't really think I'm his type, and he's not really mine, so…" I said, biting my lip as I tried to keep myself from saying what I really wanted to say. "Do you think I have a break?" I asked, changing the topic.

He pursed his lips as he got the message and poked at my wrist (what was with all these doctors poking my wrist when I know it hurts?), watching my pained expression before he wrote on the clipboard. "I'll have to wait until we do the x-ray, but it looks like that's what we have here. Just in case it is a break, though, what color would you like your cast to be?"

"Green," I said with a shrug, "I'm not picky."

"Alright, well, I'm going to set up that x-ray and hopefully it won't take long," he said before he headed for the door. "Nice to meet you, Bella." With that, he left.

The x-ray proved that I _did_ break my wrist, but, since it was clean break, I didn't need to have surgery to fix it. Dr. Hale quickly fitted me into my cast, wrapping the green tape around the white stuffing, before he let me go.

The bulky thing was an eyesore, that was for sure, and I couldn't help but wonder if it was going to be a bother on my date this Saturday.

Hopefully Jake wouldn't mind.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Oh, Bella. The hospital is your second home.**

**I'm going to give you a fair warning. The story is going to get VERY hetero before we get to the homo aspects, especially in the next couple of chapters. If you can grit your teeth and stick with me, I promise you won't be disappointed with how this story will end.**

**Also, before I go, I want to tell you to be on the lookout for a new story of mine that should be coming out in the next couple of days, **_The Secrets of the Olympic Peninsula. _**It's not a Bellice story, but it is a BeLeah story (because there aren't that many well-written BeLeah stories). You can get a hint as to what it might be about from this banner, made by my lovely Beta, CeCeAsh: **_http(:/)/i241(.)photobucket(.)com/albums/ff275/megster_1992/The%20Secrets%20of%20the%20Olympic%20Peninsula/TSotOPbanner(.)jpg_ **(Just get rid of the parentheses in the link.)  
><strong>

**Next chapter is the bonfire/date at First Beach.**


	7. Chapter 7

**The Twilight Saga is the rightful property of Stephenie Meyer. I only take credit for my own ideas.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Seven<strong>

"What are you planning on wearing?"

Looking up from my laptop, because I was on Facebook looking at Jake's pictures, the ones he had on his profile, I saw my mom leaning against the door frame, her arms crossed as she waited for an answer.

I wasn't stalking him, no, but I did want to see if there were any photos of him where he wasn't wearing a shirt. He looked really good without a shirt. Regardless, I exited out of the browser and sat up.

"I'm not entirely sure," I answered truthfully with a shrug. "What do you wear on a first date?"

"Well, you're going to the beach, right?" she asked as she walked in, looking through my closet. "You should wear something comfortable, first and foremost, but you also want to draw a bit of attention to yourself." She started to look through the different shirts that I had hanging up before she pulled out a dark blue v-neck t-shirt that I forgot I even had. "It's always a good thing to tease the boys," she said with a wink before tossing the shirt on to my bed. "You can bring a jacket with you, of course, but this will be enough to show off what your mother gave you."

I bit my lip as I tried not to blush. Really? My mom was suggesting that I should wear a shirt that showed cleavage? I had to admit…it was a good idea. That way Jake would still want to look at me when I got there, because my bulky green cast was definitely an eye sore. "It'll work," I said with a nod.

She gave me a smile as she turned back around, clapping her hands together. "I can't believe it. My baby girl has her first date. I think I'm going to cry," she added teasingly, running a finger underneath her eye for emphasis.

"Oh, Mom," I said, rolling my eyes. "I doubt he's even going to like me like that. I mean, he's _gorgeous_ and so nice and handsome and…I'm just…plain."

"Aww," she said before she walked over to me and wrapped her arms tightly around my shoulders. "Don't ever think that you're just plain, Bella. You are a beautiful girl, inside and out. After all, you do favor me more than your father."

I rolled my eyes again. "Please, Mom. I'm nowhere near as…crazy as you."

Mom chuckled before she placed a kiss on my forehead. "You get crazier with age, my dear. Just wait until you're older."

With that she left just as Emmett poked his head through the bathroom door.

"We're going to leave in about ten minutes. Think you can be ready by then?" he asked.

I glanced at the clock and saw that it was two minutes past seven, and the party was going to start at about seven twenty. With a nod I walked over to the door. "Now let me get changed in peace," I said before closing it on him, heading to my bed. Once I put the shirt on, I looked down and admired the way it looked on me.

_It makes my boobs look good, that's for sure_, I thought before I headed towards my closet and grabbed a pair of jeans.

I was dressed and downstairs in five minutes, tapping my foot impatiently as I waited for my brother to get his ass ready. He was downstairs within the minute, joking about how he should've been the one waiting for me, before we got into the jeep and started to drive off.

I looked at his knuckles as he gripped the steering wheel, slightly reddish but nowhere near as red and purple as they were on Monday night. "How're yours knuckles?"

He sighed as he flexed his right hand. "Pretty much healed up. It's not like I broke them or anything, you know. How's the wrist?"

I shrugged as I lifted my left hand. "Can't complain. Once he put the cast on most of the pain went away." I looked out of the window as I sighed. "How was detention?"

"How do you think it was?" he chuckled. He had received a week's worth of detention for fighting Felix whereas Felix was suspended for two weeks. They said it was because Emmett was justified for what he did but that it was still wrong for him to punch another student. Either way, I felt a bit safer knowing Felix wasn't there. I didn't know what else he would do, but, seeing as Emmett had "beaten the crap out of Felix" as my friends told me the next day, I had a feeling he wasn't going to bother Emmett anytime soon. "Detention was stupid. I was only in there because I was defending you, you know that."

"I'm not some porcelain doll that you need to protect Emmett," I said with a sigh. "I can take care of myself."

He snorted. "Not very well, apparently," he said, pointing to the cast. "Besides, it's the big brother's job to make sure that no guy hurts his sister and if he does; he'll have hell to pay. Jake knows to be careful now," he said, looking out of the corner of his eye, "so hopefully he won't break your heart."

I bit my lip as I realized that the conversation had gotten deep. Deciding to remain silent, I flipped on the radio to Emmett's preferred station and, like I predicted, he started to rap along to the lyrics, his fingers drumming on the steering wheel to the beat of the song.

"Yeah, yeah," he started, bobbing his head as he transformed into Jay-Z, "I'ma up at Brooklyn, now I'm down in Tribeca, sitting next to De Niro, but I'll be hood forever…"

Drowning out his rapping babble, I looked out of the window as the sun started to make its descent towards the horizon, the sky beginning to change into different colors. Right now it was still light blue, but you could tell there was a bit of pink swirled in there.

We reached the beach's parking lot, which was higher up than the actual beach itself, and I laughed to myself when Emmett pulled into the spot next to the familiar Silver bug.

"Did you bring any cash?" Emmett asked as he turned off the engine.

"No, why?"

He shrugged before he reached into his wallet and grabbed a ten dollar bill, handing it to me. "In case you want to get something to drink," he said with a wink.

I looked at the face of Alexander Hamilton in confusion before it dawned on me. This was the money for buying alcohol. "Emmett…you don't…drink, do you?"

"Every once in a while I do, why?" he asked.

"Because Dad is the Chief of Police? What would he think if he heard you drink? What if he decides to do a random breathalyzer or drug test or—"

Emmett placed his hand on my shoulder with a chuckle. "Relax, Bells. It's not like I get drunk. I only have a couple of beers and I'm able to act like my regular self. Dad doesn't know, and, so long as you don't tell him I drink, I won't tell him you do," he said before he opened the door of the jeep and hopped out, waving to someone down on the beach.

With a sigh I got out of the jeep and headed down towards the beach, Emmett had already ran off to some of the guys that were tossing a football around, and stuffed my hands into my pockets as I looked around nervously, trying to find someone I knew. Rosalie was sitting next to Felix, he was whispering in her ear and she was giggling, and Jasper and Riley were talking to one another, laughing. Mike and Jessica were grinding to the music, as were Tyler and Lauren, so I rolled my eyes and ignored them as I looked around and found that Edward and Kate were deep throating each other on a log, and I shivered as I noticed there was a line forming near a cooler.

I got in line behind a blonde girl, one who looked familiar, and after a minute of standing behind her I recognized her. It was the girl I saw Felix making out with on my first day of school, Heidi, I learned her name was.

After she paid for her beer she left the line and I almost felt my jaw drop. This guy was yet another Quileute, but damn, he was _huge_; taller and bigger than Jake, his black hair shaggy as it hung past his ears. He wore a wife beater that showed off his muscles more than was necessary and his entire left arm was covered in tribal tattoos.

"What's your poison?" he asked, opening the lid of the cooler.

Peering inside, I could only see the names of popular beer brands; Rainer, Bud Light, Miller, Corona. "Do you have anything non-alcoholic?" I asked.

He chuckled and grabbed a can of Bud Light. "One Bud, two dollars."

"But I don't want—"

"Two dollars," he interrupted, waving the can of beer.

"Sam," I heard a familiar voice sigh before Jake walked around, carrying another cooler. "You could've told her to wait." He placed the cooler down next to the other one and opened it up, grabbing a Dr. Pepper out of it and handing it to me. "Sorry, Bella, Sam just likes to get people drunk."

Sam chuckled. "I just like to make money; I don't care what people do so long as I get the green."

Jake flashed me a smile, his eyes drifting down towards my cleavage before he looked me in the eyes. "You look good tonight, Bells. Come on," he said, reaching for my hand, only to realize that one of them was holding a can and the other was in a cast. He dropped his arms to his side and nodded towards the rocks. "Want to walk to the tide pools with me?"

I nodded and walked with him, away from Sam. There was something about him I didn't quite like about him; supplying teenagers with alcohol. "How old is Sam?" I asked, turning to him.

"Um…I think he just turned twenty-three. Why?" he asked as we walked.

I shrugged as I tried to crack open my can but failed miserably. Jake chuckled and opened it for me. "Thanks," I said before I took a quick drink. "Don't you think he's a little old to be hanging out around a high school party?"

"Naw," Jake said as he kicked the sand. "I've known Sam for as long as I can remember, he's always fit in more with the younger crowd, and now people especially like it because he can supply them with the liquor."

Taking another drink, I caught a whiff of a familiar smell, one that was a bit sweet but also a bit pungent. "Who supplies the weed?" I asked. Growing up in California, I quickly became familiar to the smell of weed when it was being smoked. Heck, it practically clung to Nahuel.

Jake chuckled and looked at me. "You know what weed smells like?"

"Grew up in Cali," I said, pointing to myself.

"Well, I guess they got it from themselves, but I'm not sure," he said with a shrug before he turned to look towards the ocean, smiling as he watched the sun inch closer to the horizon. "Isn't that a gorgeous sight?"

I nodded. "Yeah. The sunset back in Cali wasn't this good."

"Probably because there is less light pollution here," he teased before he stopped and ran a hand through his hair. "Look, Bella, I…There's something I want to do."

I stopped and looked at him, pursing my lips as I watched him take a deep breath. He took a step closer, closing the gap between us. He leaned forward a bit, hesitating as his eyes flickered to my lips and then to my eyes, asking for permission. I did nothing as he slowly closed his eyes and pressed his lips to mine.

My eyes seemed to close involuntarily as I returned the kiss back, my lips caressing his before I felt his hands cup the sides of my face.

Slowly our lips parted and we looked each other in the eyes, not saying a word as we tried to regain our breaths, the sound of the music the only thing we could hear.

Now, that wasn't my first kiss but I had to admit, Jake was a _good_ kisser. I leaned forward and pressed my lips to his once more, and I smiled once I felt him kiss back.

"That was…" Jake managed to say as we pulled apart for the second time. "Wow, that was great."

I nodded. "It was."

"I'm glad I decided to do that," he said with a chuckle. "I was talking to a mirror the entire day trying to figure out the best way to do this. Man, it was easier than I thought."

"I'm not _that_ easy," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Yeah, I know, now for the hard part," he said before he scratched the back of his neck, taking a deep breath. "Look, I know that this might seem soon and I know we haven't known each other long but…I'd like it if you were to become my girlfriend." I opened my mouth to speak but he held up a finger. "You might need time to think on it, I know, so…just let me know Monday morning, okay?"

I nodded. "Are we going to finish our date now?"

He chuckled. "Yeah, I think they're going to start the fire now. Have you seen what the sea salt does to the fire before?"

We talked about the way the fire turned blue because of the salt on the logs, and, as I walked up to the fire, I inhaled the aroma. God, there was nothing like the smell of a bonfire; it was one of my favorite smells.

I heard someone wolf-whistle from behind me, so I turned around to see three shirtless men. One had short blonde hair and a goatee, his toned arms crossed as he looked at one of his friends incredulously. Another had blonde hair that was made into a short faux hawk, a weird looking tattoo on his right pec, and he flashed me a smile as he caught me looking. Something told me he was the one who whistled at me. The one next to him had brown hair that was longer than his friends but still dark, and he had a tanner pallor. Brown stubble was on his chin as he looked around the beach, tapping his foot impatiently.

"Jake," I said, poking him with my finger, "who are those guys? They seem…shady."

Jake turned around to see the guys I was looking at before he cleared his throat. "I…uh…need to talk to Quil and Embry. I'll be back, alright?" he asked though he quickly left without giving me a chance to answer.

"Bella!" I heard someone call just as I turned around to see Rosalie and Alice walk my way with smiles on their faces. Alice's smile deepened as she wrapped her arms around me. "Glad you could make it."

"Figured you were here; Emmett parked next to your bug," I teased.

Rose chuckled. "Yeah, if you see a silver bug in Forks, you know it belongs to Alice."

Alice rolled her eyes. "Hey, now, I like my bug. Don't make fun of her."

Rose and I laughed at Alice's angry pout, her arms crossed as she looked at us, before Rose sniffed the air. "Are they cooking the hot dogs now?"

I looked towards the fire and saw several natives; Jared and Paul was a couple of them, holding metal sticks over the fire, hot dogs on the end of them. "Looks like it," I said as I turned back to Rose.

"I wonder if they did something different to it…it doesn't smell right," she said, sniffing again before she put her hand on her mouth. "Ugh…I need to go…" she said before she ran off to the buildings that were up near the parking lot.

"Wonder what's going on with her," Alice wondered out loud before she turned to me. "So, what have you been up to?"

_Oh, you know, kissing my crush and being asked to be his girlfriend. No big deal. _"Not much, really," I lied with a shrug as someone walked up to us, her red hair in braids as she smiled at us.

"Hi, I'm Katie," she said, offering her hand to me.

I took it and shook it with a smile. "Bella."

"I think everyone knows your name," Katie joked before turning to Alice. "So, um, Alice, you want to help me with my homework now?"

Alice nodded before her eyes quickly flickered to mine. "Sure, Katie, let's go."

I watched Alice and Katie walk up towards the parking lot, my lips pursed as I tried to figure out what they were up to. _Doing homework during a party at the beach? That didn't seem suspicious._

"Hey, Bells," Jake said as he wrapped his arm around my waist. "Sorry about that. Those guys are punks that keep challenging Paul, Embry and Quil to basketball. Had to tell them that they were back. What'd I miss?"

I shrugged. "Not much," I said as I noticed Embry walking over to Paul and tapping him on the shoulder, whispering something in his ear before they both headed behind us and towards the shirtless men. As I watched them, I noticed that they headed towards the lot, and the one with the dark brown hair had a tribal tattoo over his upper back. "There are a lot of tattoos around here," I mentioned as I turned back to Jake.

"Not a fan of tattoos?"

"Well, some tattoos are good but I'm not one of those who thinks that you should have tattoos all over your body, you know?" If someone wanted to do that, however, that was on them. Let people do what they want.

Jake chuckled. "I guess that's good, because I've got a tattoo," he said with a grin before he lifted up his right pant sleeve, showing me his thigh (which was toned and muscular) that had a tribal wolf on it, one that looked like it was in a running position as it faced down his leg. "I like to think that it's running down my leg."

"It's cool, but why a wolf?" I asked.

"Well, that's one of the legends we have here," he said before he got into the long spiel about how the Quileutes are supposedly descended from wolves and that they were once warriors who could turn into wolves.

As I listened to his drabble I noticed that Alice and Katie had come back. Alice's hair was a bit messier than it was when she left and Katie's button down shirt wasn't buttoned all the way, and she looked flushed as she walked over towards her group of friends.

For some reason, I felt a pang of jealousy in my stomach, but I shook my head and nodded to Jake as he continued to discuss the legends, my eyes on Alice.

She kept looking over at me, her lips tugging downwards in a frown, before I noticed her walk over to Sam and grabbed a drink from the cooler, handing him a bill. Even as she downed her beer, her eyes kept flickering over to me.

I wanted to know why she kept staring at me like that. Was it because she didn't like Jake that much? Was it because she thought Jake was a monster?

Either way, I didn't care as I leaned my head on Jacob's shoulder, enjoying the warmth of the bonfire and the smell of my crush.

* * *

><p>"So," Rose said as we looked through the clothes racks at Penny's, Alice trying to desperately find something as she moved from one rack to another. They made good on their promise to take me to the mall in Port Angeles on Sunday, so here I was, watching as my friends decided on what to buy and what not to buy. "I saw you and Katie Marshall heading off towards the parking lot, yesterday," she paused as she looked at Alice, "anything going on there?"<p>

Alice shrugged. "Not really. She wanted help with her homework."

"Bullshit. That's the same lie you used when you and Tanya would sneak off and make out in the woods. There is definitely something going on between you two."

"Tanya?" I asked, stuffing my hands into my pockets.

"My first girlfriend," Alice answered before she turned to Rose. "Alright, so Katie and I fooled around a bit. Happy now?"

Rose clapped her hands. "Oh, goodie. Now Alice isn't going to be single anymore."

"Just because we fooled around it doesn't mean that we're going to be together. She's too scared to come out. Haven't you heard she's dating Eric now?" Alice asked, her eyes going back to the racks. "There's no way I'm going to date someone who's hidden in the closet."

"Alright, alright, I was just assuming, I'm sorry," Rose said before she stopped. "Oh, God…what time is it, Alice?"

Alice grabbed her phone and flipped it open. "Twelve. Why?"

"Yep, right on time," Rose said as held her stomach. "God…I need to find the bathroom."

"Menstrual problems?" I asked.

"No," she answered as she headed away from the racks and went towards the bathroom which was, thankfully, close. "Every day, around noon, I just…feel nauseous all of the sudden. It's like clockwork. I wish it were menstrual problems though," she said as she ran into the bathroom. Alice and I stopped outside the door and waited, listening to the sound of retching as we looked at one another.

Alice took a deep breath. "You don't think she could be pregnant, do you?"

"Rose is a smart woman, I'm sure she uses protection and I'm sure she's on the pill," I said with a shrug. "She could be, though."

"What about you and Jake?" she asked, leaning against the wall. "What's going on with the two of you?"

"Well, we were on a date yesterday and he…kissed me, but…I'm not sure where it's going to go."

Alice sighed. "You know my feelings about him. I just…don't want you to do something you'll regret, okay?"

I nodded. "I'll take that into consideration."

For the remainder of the shopping day, I basically followed Rose and Alice as they hopped from store to store and, thankfully, it was time to go. Once I was in my house I quickly headed into my room and turned on my laptop, clicking on Firefox as I tapped my foot impatiently against the floor.

As soon as my homepage popped up, Facebook, of course, I went to my profile and clicked edit profile, finding "Friends and Family" on the left hand menu. I clicked the drop down box and switched my profile from "single" to "in a relationship" and typed in "Jacob Black" when the new box popped up.

With a satisfied smile, I clicked save changes and leaned against the chair.

Hopefully this was a good enough answer for Jake.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: What's going on with Rose? Who were those guys? How far are Bella and Jake going to go?**

**All of these questions, and more, will be answered in the upcoming chapters!**

**Review motivate me, but the reviews that motivate me the _most_ are the ones that don't repeat themselves and actually point out a specific part of the chapter/story that they liked. I like comments on the actual story/chapter, not just something like "great, please continue" or "great update, can't wait until the next one". I like seeing _why_ you liked it.**

**Next chapter we fast forward a couple of weeks to September...13th.**


	8. Chapter 8

**The Twilight Saga is the rightful property of Stephenie Meyer. I only take credit for my own ideas.**

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><p><strong>Chapter Eight<strong>

Have you ever woken up one morning and known almost automatically that that day was going to be shitty? I had them about once a year and I absolutely _hated _that feeling.

Today was one of those days.

I woke up in a horrible mood, my stomach cramping hardcore and, after going to the bathroom, I noticed that I leaked through my underwear.

Step One to making this Bella's Hell on Earth.

With a groan I grabbed the necessary products that were in the drawers under the sink (Emmett kept his masculine products in the cabinets above the sink) and took care of my needs before I headed into my bedroom, checking my bed to make sure that I hadn't bled through to the sheets.

Thankfully I noticed I didn't, so with a sigh I turned on my laptop and was bombarded with about ten notifications on Facebook screaming "Happy Birthday" on my wall.

My eyes widened as the realization set in.

It was September 13th. My birthday.

My forehead hit the keyboard of my laptop almost immediately as I groaned.

Step Two to making this Bella's Hell on Earth.

Smacking the laptop shut I got dressed and headed down the stairs, or more like stomped down the stairs, and sat in my chair just as Mom placed a plate of chocolate chip pancakes in front of me.

"Happy birthday, sweetie," she said as she walked over and pressed her lips to my temple.

Another groan escaped my lips as I put my head in my hands. "No," was all I said before I grabbed my fork with my right hand, irritated that my left one was still encased in plaster. I had about a week or two before I went back to Dr. Hale for him to check me out, but I was getting tired of carrying around a hunk of green on my arm every day.

"Oh, right," Mom said, rolling her eyes. "I forgot that my daughter was a party pooper. Guess that means she doesn't want her presents, either."

"Not really, Mom," I said with a sigh as I dropped my fork. "I really don't want anything."

Mom only pursed her lips as she walked back to the stove, turning her back to me as she hummed inconspicuously under her breath. My eyes narrowed into slits as I became suspicious of her actions; what was she planning?

"There's the birthday girl," a familiar voice chuckled before I felt a pair of arms wrap around my shoulders. "Happy birthday, Bells."

I looked up to smile at my father, not surprised to see him wearing the jacket that the station gave him. It was nice that he had his own jacket, but he wore it _everywhere_. "Thanks, Dad."

"Renée, can you believe our youngest is sixteen?" Dad asked as he shook his head, sitting down in his seat as he opened the newspaper that he had carried in. "How time flies."

"I can't believe she has a boyfriend and Emmett hasn't even gotten a girlfriend yet," Mom teased.

"Hey!" my brother half-yelled, half-laughed as he walked in, slapping me on the shoulder as he passed. "The big one six. Are you excited? You feel different?"

I rolled my eyes. "I still feel like I'm fifteen. Why do people assume you feel older when it's your birthday?"

Dad chuckled. "That's probably because you haven't gotten a chance to drive yet. Once you get the privilege of driving, you know that you can go anywhere and you don't feel reliant on your parents anymore, therefore it makes you older."

"Look at Dad getting all wise and stuff," Emmett snorted. "Who knew the old man could be smart?"

"Well, you don't get your brains from your mother, that's for sure," Dad joked, earning a slap in the back of his head from the woman in question. "Hon, you know I was only kidding."

"Oh, I know," she said with a grin. "I still wanted to slap you, though."

I laughed. "We know where Emmett gets his violent side."

Emmett's eyes narrowed into slits before his large hand reached over and grabbed at my arm pits, his sausage fingers tickling them as he had an evil grin growing on his face. "Take that back!"

"N-N-NEVER!" I let out in between gasps, trying my hardest to wiggle out of his reach. No luck, though, as he stood up and began tickling me more; at my sides, under my chin, my armpits, any places he knew that were potential ticklish zones he hit. "ALL RIGHT!" I said with a one final laugh before Emmett sat back in his seat triumphantly. "I'm sorry that you're so violent."

Emmett gnashed his teeth together before Dad cleared his throat, giving him a look as Emmett turned to look at him, and he sighed. "Fine, I'll drop it."

"Good boy," Dad said with a smile before he glanced in my direction. "Bella, you should go over to Jake's today. Spend time with your boyfriend."

My eyes narrowed into slits as I became suspicious once more. "Why? You're not going to throw a surprise party for me, are you?"

Mom chuckled. "Of course not, honey. We know how you feel about those. We just thought that, maybe, you'd rather want to spend time with your boyfriend than your family on your birthday. It _is_ a milestone, you know."

"What?" Emmett scoffed. "You surprised I haven't killed her yet?"

"Honestly, I am," I said with a chuckle. "Especially with the way your feet smell."

"You did not just say that," Emmett said before he brought up his foot and stuck it in my face. "Smell it."

Dad cleared his throat. "Children, stop bickering."

Emmett frowned as he put his foot back down, looking at his food and devouring it in silence.

"Just think about it, honey," Mom said with a smile. "I'm sure you won't regret it."

* * *

><p>As I walked through the hallways in the building, trying to dodge people who would possibly say happy birthday as I headed towards the cafeteria, I noticed Rose running past me, her hand on her mouth as she ducked into the closest bathroom.<p>

_Huh_, I thought as I looked behind me at the swinging bathroom door, _guess she might be pregnant after all. _

With a shrug I walked and when I passed an intersection in the hall, there was something in the corner of my eye that caught my attention. I turned my head and saw Jasper and Riley in a heated lip-lock, Riley pushed Jasper up against the lockers as they made-out, and I couldn't help but smile. They were adorable together, I had to admit.

"Hey, babe," I heard a familiar voice chuckle before I turned around to see Jake smiling at me. "Happ—"

"I'd reconsider saying that if you want to keep your girlfriend," I said, pointing my finger at him.

He closed his mouth with an audible snap before he grinned. "I like it when you call yourself that."

"Call myself what?" I asked as I closed the gap between us, pressing my body against his as a smile formed on my lips. "Your girlfriend?"

He nodded. "Yeah, it's hot," he said before he pressed his lips to mine, wrapping his arms around my waist as his tongue slid across the bottom of my lip, teasing me before he pulled back. "Did you do something different with your lips?" he asked, smacking his mouth as if to taste whatever it was he tasted again.

I nodded. "I put on more lip gloss before I got into the jeep this morning, but other than that, no, not really."

"Mmm, it tastes good," he said before giving me a quick peck. "So, you want to sit with me today?" he asked as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders, leading me to the cafeteria.

"Not really. No offence, but your jock friends are assholes. Why do you even hang out with them?"

Jake shrugged as he chuckled, opening the cafeteria doors with his free arm. "Honestly, I don't really know. I guess it's because we're on the same team and people expect us to sit together. Well, I'll let you go sit with your friends. Tell everyone I said hi," he said, pressing his lips to mine for a brief second before he let go of my shoulders.

"Wait," I said, grabbing on to his arm. "I've got a question to ask."

"Yeah?" he pressed.

"Think I could come over later on today? I could get Emmett to give me a ride."

Jake scratched the back of his neck as he sighed. "Well, I was going to work in the garage as soon as I got home but hey, I'll make an exception for you," he said with a smile. "Alright, I'll see you then."

"Okay," I smiled back before I got in line and got my food, heading towards the lunch table. Angela and Seth were cuddled together, him whispering in her ear as she giggled, and Alice was talking to Edward about something but she quickly stopped when I took my seat next to her.

"Bella," she said with a smile. "Happy Birthday!"

"Shh," I said, putting my finger to my lips. "I don't want _anybody_ to know."

Edward snorted. "Then why did you set up your birthday on Facebook? Everyone knows now."

"Because I didn't know at the time that _everybody _would know my birthday, and I was too lazy to fix it when I learned that that's what it was for," I said with a shrug.

"Well, you should be happy that today is your birthday," Alice said before clapping her hands together excitedly. "Guess who went into labor at three o'clock this morning?"

"Um, hmm," I said, putting my finger on my chin thoughtfully as I thought I'd play along with her. "Angela?"

Angela laughed at this. "If I were in labor, I'd doubt I'd want to come to school."

"That's true," I said with a chuckle before turning back to Alice. "So Sadie went into labor? Has she had any puppies yet?"

Alice nodded. "She had one before we left for school and Mom promised that she'd take the day off to keep an eye on her. She said she'd text when she was sure Sadie was do—OH!" she jumped in her seat before she grabbed her phone and flipped it open. "That's her now. Let's see…_ "Sadie's doing fine; she gave birth to four adorable and healthy puppies. You can see them when you come home. Invite your friends if you want to." _And then she put a smiley face at the end, see," she said, showing me her phone and sure enough, there was a smiley face.

"I guess you all will want to come over?" Edward asked just as Rosalie sat down, biting her lip as she looked at the table. "Whoa, Rose, you okay?"

She sniffed and nodded, rubbing her fingers over her eyes. "Yeah, I'm fine, I just…what were we talking about?"

"Sadie had her puppies!" Alice said excitedly, clapping her hands once more. "You want to see them after school?"

"I-I'd love to but I've got plans, sorry."

My pocket vibrated as soon as she said that and I pulled it out to see that I had a text from Emmett. _Can you find a ride home today? I've got plans after school._

_That didn't seem suspicious, _I thought before I glanced over at the jock table, noticing that Emmett wasn't over there and that Felix was now hanging all over that Heidi girl, laughing at whatever jokes the jocks told, before I shook my head and typed up a reply.

_Yeah, sure. I was thinking of going over to Alice's house, anyway._

Snapping my phone shut, I turned to Alice with a smile. "I'd love to come over to your house and see the puppies."

* * *

><p>"Don't you all have practice after school?" I asked as I walked in the Cullen house, surprised by the cleanliness of it. There were framed pictures on the walls of Edward and Alice at various ages. I stopped at one that looked like an Alice when she was five or so, dressed up as Tinkerbell, which caused me to laugh. "Wow, Alice. Tinkerbell, really?"<p>

Edward laughed as he passed me. "You should've seen her after Halloween. She refused to take it off."

"Did not!" Alice yelled at her brother before she turned to me. "But no, we don't have practice today. We don't normally have practice on Tuesdays, you know that. Mom!" she called out. "Where is she?"

I heard a chuckle before I saw the face and when I did, I immediately had to do a double-take.

She had a kind smile on her face, her dimples showing as her caramel colored hair framed her heart-shaped face. "She's in the living room, but be quiet, the puppies are trying to sleep," she said before she turned to look at me, her smile deepening. "You must be Bella," she offered her hand, "it's nice to finally meet you."

I took her hand and smiled. "Same here, Mrs. Cullen."

She waved it off. "Call me Esme, please. Mrs. Cullen is my mother-in-law. I'm surprised Rosalie and Jasper aren't with you two."

Alice sighed as she walked passed her mother and into their, I presumed, living room. "Rose has got something going on and Jasper…well…I think he was going to tell his Dad to shut up about him dating girls. I think him and Riley want to finally date."

"Oh, that's good, they make an adorable couple," she said as she looked at me. "Don't be shy, Bella. You can go on in."

I nodded and walked into the living room, looking at Alice who was crouched down as she looked at Sadie and her puppies, and smiled. "What did she have?"

Esme walked up to us and smiled herself. "One boy and three girls."

As I looked at the puppies nestled against Sadie's brown stomach, I noticed one in particular. It was smaller than the other three, it's coat a dark brown instead of the black that the others had, and it let out a small yawn/yip before it nestled in closer to its mother.

"That's the boy," Esme said, and I turned to see her smiling at me. "The runt of the litter, but I bet it won't be hard for us to find him a home."

"He's cute," I said with a smile, "I just wish I could take him home with me."

"Oh!" Alice said, turning to me with a grin. "You so should! It would be so great for Ace and Sadie to have one of their pups belong to such close friends!"

Sucking in air through my teeth, I shook my head. "I don't think I could, actually. My parents aren't all that thrilled about having a pet in the house."

"Actually," Esme said, putting her hands on her hips. "Your mother called here and asked me if I was going to be giving the puppies away. I told her I was and she said that if you took an interest to one of them, you could have one. She said to consider it your present."

_Wow_, I thought. _My mom wanted me to have a puppy? Really? Oh wow. _"That's awesome! Oh man, I can't wait until I take him home and—"

Esme chuckled as she put her hand on my shoulder. "Calm down, sweetie. They have to be weaned first, and that's going to take a couple of months. Now, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you should go. The puppies need to rest and, if you want your little runt to grow up to be big and strong, you should let him. It was nice to meet you," she said with a smile before she left the room.

"Well, your mom was…" _a bit rude_ "…weird."

"She has a big meeting to go to tonight. A potential client in Seattle, so she needs to get going. Mom doesn't really let Edward and I have girls over when no one's home, so that's her basis for thinking," Alice said with a shrug. "So, should I give you a ride home?"

"You think you can take me to Jake's house?"

Her face scrunched up in disgust. "Why do you want to go there?"

"Hey, be nice, Jake's a nice guy," I said, slapping her shoulder playfully. "My parents just want me to go over there for some reason."

Alice let out a sigh. "I suppose I could take you there."

The ride to La Push was silent as Alice drove her bug through the streets of Forks that led to Jake's reservation, her eyes on the road and her lips pursed as she thrummed her fingers against the steering wheel. I caught her looking at me a couple of times, her eyes full of something that I could decipher, before she looked back to the road and cleared her throat, acting as if nothing had happened.

When Alice pulled up at Jake's house, I noticed a motorcycle leaning against the garage's wall. The garage itself was impressive and new looking. The walls were made of white stone and the roof was black, and it looked like it could fit about five cars in there.

"This is your stop," Alice said with a sigh. "Have fun."

Pursing my lips, as I could tell I wasn't going to get much else from her, I got out of the car and waved before I walked to the garage, my hands in my pockets.

I recognized Jake's voice almost immediately, but the words he spoke I couldn't comprehend. As I walked into the garage I saw Jake handing something over to another Quileute, I assumed, who then, in return, gave him something. I cocked my head to the side in question before they noticed me.

"Talk to you later," Jake murmured as the guy left, flashing me a smile as he passed me, before Jake grinned. "Bella, you came earlier than I expected."

I looked around the garage with my hands in my pockets, noticing that there were a couple of cars in it, and also one that was covered with a tarp. "Yeah, I had to leave Alice's house, so she dropped me off. What was that guy doing here?"

Jake chuckled. "Well, uh, I just bought a truck off of him. He helped me put the tarp on it before I paid him," he said before he walked over to the tarp covered truck, pulling it off to reveal a large and red rust-bucket. "It didn't cost much, but it will take me awhile to work on it."

"It's nice," I said with a smile.

"It's yours," he said back. "Your father had talked to him when he came down here to fish last weekend, gave me the money to buy it from him, and told me he'd reimburse me for the work I'd do on this monster. It's your birthday present."

_Damn_, I thought, _two _large _presents in one day? This was going to be my favorite birthday ever._

"Wow, thanks Jake!" I said as I ran over to him and wrapped my arms around his shoulders, biting my lip as he wrapped his around my thighs, lifting me up into the air as he pulled me into a kiss.

_You should do it now, Bella, _my mind told myself. _You don't want to lose him, do you?_

"Jake, wait," I said as I wiggled out of his grip, landing on my feet without injury, surprisingly. "There's something I'd been thinking about doing for a week now and…I mean…I'm glad you haven't pressured me or anything but I know that guys have needs and that hot guys, especially, tend to go for girls who would willingly give them what they need. Anyway, I just want you to know, Jake, that I really care about you and I—I don't want to lose you."

"But Bella," he said, reaching up to caress my cheek. "I don't want anyone else. I want you to be you."

I shook my head as I grabbed his belt buckle. "Jake, I'm doing this, okay? I know it's not _exactly _what you need, but I have to work myself up to that, okay?"

As I undid the belt buckle, Jake looked at me with an incredulous expression, and, when I started to unzip his pants, he put his hands on my shoulders. "No, Bella. We-we shouldn't. Someone could walk in on us."

"Jake, I'm doing this. You can't stop me."

Slowly I moved his pants down his legs, biting my lip as I looked at the tattoo on his right thigh, before my hands moved to the hem of his red plaid boxers. Pulling them down, I revealed his penis, and I was surprised by the length of it. The ones I had seen in porn did _not_ prepare me for this.

With a sigh I grabbed his penis as I slid down to my knees, feeling it harden in my hand. Being face to face with it made me a bit uncomfortable, but, after another sigh, I put my lips around the tip and worked my way to the base.

I only got about two inches of it before I felt my gag reflex work, causing me to pull it out before I could do it again.

"You do—"

I lifted up my hand to silence him before I put my mouth around the head again, this time envisioning myself going to the base and, when I did, I felt proud of myself.

For five minutes I continued to go from the head to the base, hearing Jake let out small moans every now and then, his hands entwined in my hair as he guided me.

"Oh, God," he grunted and almost instantly I could feel a warm liquid seep inside my mouth. It was salty and it felt weird in my mouth, but, when I pulled back, I spit out the semen and looked up at Jake, smiling.

"I hope you liked that."

He chuckled as he pulled up his boxers. "I loved that," he started as he reached for his pants before looking at me, "and I love you."

Yes, this was definitely my favorite birthday.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: *rocks back and forth, looking innocent* I told you the story was going to get more hetero, and trust me, there is more where that came from.**

**Anywho, please tell me something you liked from this chapter, something specific, and I'll see you next time. :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**The Twilight Saga is the rightful owner of Stephenie Meyer; I only take credit for my own ideas.**

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><p><strong>Chapter Nine<strong>

Sitting on the hood of Edward's Volvo, I listened to Angela go over the notes we had in History class, discussing, in depth, the study guide so that I wouldn't fail the test like I had weeks before. Alice sat next to me, her lips pursed as she scanned the parking lot, while Edward and Riley tossed a baseball with one another.

"Oh, look," Alice said sarcastically, "Jake's here."

"Alice," I hissed as I elbowed her. "Be nice."

Alice nodded but otherwise said nothing as she crossed her arms, taking her bottom lip in between her teeth as she looked in the direction of the yellow Mustang. Following her gaze, I smiled when Jake got out of the car, his eyes on me and a grin on his face as he raised one of his arms in a wave.

It took him a minute to cross the part of the parking lot from his car to Edward's, holding a history book in his hands as he walked up to us, his arm instinctively wrapping around my back.

"There she is," he laughed as he ducked his head to press his lips to my cheek. "How're you doing, babe?"

"Good," I said before turning to face him, pressing my lips to his, sliding my tongue against his bottom lip before he pushed his inside my mouth. Reaching up with my right hand, I grabbed at the hair at the nape of his neck, feeling proud of myself when Jake let out a moan inside my mouth.

Someone cleared their throat and I was instantly reminded that I was in a public place, so, with a blush on my cheeks, I pulled apart from Jake's lips.

"Sup, guys?" he asked as he looked at my group of friends with a smile on his face. "You know, there is a party going on tonight. You all should definitely come."

"I would, but Bella promised to help me with my Geometry homework today," Alice said, raising an eyebrow at me.

I chuckled. "That doesn't mean we can't go to a party. I think it'll be fun."

"I'm in," Edward said with a shrug. "Especially since _I_ had to be the driver at the last party," he added, glaring at his sister.

"Fine, I'll go," Alice huffed. "But I probably won't enjoy myself."

"Come on, I'll hang out with you," I said, playfully nudging her with my elbow. "It won't be that bad."

Her lips twitched before she nodded. "Alright, I guess I will have fun."

"Great!" Jake said, clapping his hands together with a grin. "Well, I've got to go spread the news so that everybody knows about this party. See you in History, Bella," he said, pressing his lips to my temple before he jogged off to the double doors, entering them just as Emmett walked out, a grin on his lips as he headed towards us.

"'Sup, guys?" he asked as he reached us. "Where's Rose and Jazz?"

Riley shrugged. "Not sure. Jasper hasn't really texted me over the weekend because things are still sub-zero with his Dad."

"Well, it looks like they're arriving now," Edward said, pointing behind us.

Turning around I saw the metallic blue car pulling into a parking space behind us, Jasper in the passenger side seat with a large grin on his face before he got out of the car.

"Whoa, Jazz, what's the deal with that cheesy ass grin?" Edward asked with a chuckle as Jasper walked over towards us, his hand on the strap of his backpack before he looked at Riley.

"Well, turns out my dad _isn't _homophobic," he said with a contented sigh, throwing his backpack onto the hood of the Volvo. "You know how last week I went up to him and told him to stop throwing girls in my face because I wasn't interested?"

Riley nodded. "And he had been avoiding you ever since," he continued with a raised eyebrow as Rosalie joined us, leaning against Emmett as he moved her hair back behind her shoulders as he went in to whisper in her ear.

"Whoa, when did _that_ start to happen?" Alice asked. "Rose, you're supposed to tell your best friend when you break up with a boyfriend _and _when you get a new one."

Rosalie sighed. "Look, Alice…it's kind of confusing how it happened. Felix dumped me and Emmett heard me sobbing and he…helped me with something and…well…things just happened," she said as she wrapped one of her arms around Emmett's, placing her head on his shoulder. "Besides, Emmett's a nice guy. Nothing like Felix."

"Not to mention he's way hotter," Jasper added before clearing his throat. "Anyway, Dad came up to me today while I was getting ready for school and he actually sat me down and told me the reason he was throwing girls in my face. It wasn't because he doesn't like gays; it was because he was trying to protect me, seeing as he had heard _so_ many stories about how gays are treated."

Rose nodded. "I had to give our Dad credit; he made me proud."

Riley sighed contently as he wrapped his arm around Jasper's shoulder, pressing his lips to his cheek. "Guess this means I have to tell my parents about us, huh?"

"If you want to get with _this,_" Jasper paused, pointing to himself, "you will. I thought you were going to tell your Dad that you were bi yesterday?"

Riley shrugged. "I was but…I chickened out. Mom was watching Grey's Anatomy, which I feel is weird, especially since she has her own McDreamy at the hospital."

"You mean McBlondie," I teased, earning an elbow in the ribs from Alice. "What? Your dad is very attractive."

"Anyway," Riley continued, rolling his eyes at my remark, "there was a scene between two of the doctors—"

"You mean Torres and Robbins, right? Calzona is my favorite pairing on there," Alice said, nodding.

"Yeah, I do mean them. My dad had walked in at a moment where they were kissing and his face kind of…contorted before he left the room. I just…I couldn't tell him after witnessing that. I need time."

Jasper patted Riley's shoulder sympathetically. "Don't worry, Riley. Parents just need time to accept their children for who they are. I mean, look at my dad. I had thought he was going to continue to lie to himself and think that I was straight and just looking for attention, but it turns out he was just looking out for my well-being."

Alice shrugged. "And it's not like you're coming out as gay, you know. Your parents can hang on to the slight hope that you'll go back to girls."

"Not if I tell them I have a boyfriend," he snorted before running a hand through his hair. "Thanks guys, but…I just have to work myself up to this."

"Bell is ringing in three minutes!" one of the staff members called out, looking at the students who were gathered in the parking lot with his eyes narrowed, trying to determine if anyone was doing anything suspicious. "Get in the building!"

With a sigh I put my History book back inside my backpack, throwing it over my shoulder as I headed towards what was probably going to be the longest class in the history of classes.

* * *

><p>"I feel kind of bad for Riley. If only he had parents like mine…" Alice mused as we walked through the threshold of her home, heading into the living room to dump our bags onto the couch. The puppies were wiggling against their mother as Sadie watched her pups, panting slightly as they let out yips. "Come on, let's go up to my room so that we don't bother them."<p>

With a nod I followed her up the stairs, after we got our books out of our backpacks, and into her room which _screamed_ Alice. The walls weren't pink, surprisingly, but they were painted an off-white color, pink curtains hanging from the two windows on adjacent walls.

"Yeah, this _is_ your room, alright," I teased with a chuckle as I noticed her comforter had a pink and red tie-dye pattern. "Nice bed," I said before I sat down, crossing my legs as Alice gave me a smile.

"Thanks. Picked out the comforter myself." She clapped her hands together, then. "So, you want to get to work on the problems?"

After giving her another nod, we got out our homework and talked about how to do the first problem, and once it was solved, I looked at her with my lips pursed.

"What?" she asked. "Something on my face?"

"No, no. I was just wondering…how did _your_ parents take it when you came out? I know it's not the same for everyone."

"It went a _lot_ easier than I expected," she chuckled. "I thought that my dad was going to throw me out, because his dad is a pastor and raised him with those morals and beliefs in hope that he would end up following in his father's footsteps."

"So he was okay with it?"

She nodded. "More than okay. He told me "Alice, you're my daughter and I'm going to love you no matter who you love. I just want you to be happy," and then Mom basically said the same thing. It felt good that my parents accepted me for who I am."

"I guess Jasper is feeling the same thing now?" I asked with a chuckle.

Alice laughed with me, nodding. "Oh, yeah, definitely. You don't really understand how…_happy_ you are when you learn that the people you love the most accept you no matter what. It just…it's the greatest feeling in the world. Of course, some people aren't as lucky," she added with a sigh.

"At least the world is evolving now," I said with a shrug. "I bet within the next twenty years, everybody won't care if you're gay or straight, you know?"

"One can only hope," she nodded. "Okay, so we need to do the next problem."

While she went over what the problem was about, I glanced around the room and saw that, on her desk, was a silver picture frame. The picture in the frame was one that I hadn't expected; Alice was grinning while a blonde woman held her close, her cheek resting on the top of Alice's head as they smiled. Curious, I stood up and walked over to the picture frame, picking it up and looking at it closely.

The woman had strawberry blonde hair that fell past her shoulders, her blue eyes seeming familiar as they radiated with happiness.

"Who's this?" I asked, tilting the picture frame closer for Alice to see.

Her eyes widened as she got up off of the bed and almost ran to me, reaching for the picture frame. "Give it back."

"I will when you tell me who it is," I said, lifting my arm up since I knew Alice wasn't going to be able to reach it. "Is it Tanya?"

Alice crossed her arms with a huff, looking in the other direction as I noticed her biting her lip.

"It _is _Tanya," I said, looking back at the picture. "You two made a cute couple, but why do you keep a picture of your ex in your room? Isn't it weird?"

"Look, Tanya left for college and I hadn't had time to…move on. I have now but…give me the picture!" she huffed again, jumping for the picture frame.

"So Tanya's an _older_ woman," I teased as I walked past the jumping Alice, a grin on my face as I cradled the picture to my chest, much like football players do with the pigskin.

"Give it!"

"No!"

Suddenly I was on the ground, laying on the picture frame as I felt a weight on my back, holding my arms at the crease of my elbows, which, frankly, was about the only place you could grab at my left arm, considering it was still covered in plaster.

"Alice, let me up," I grumbled as I turned my head to the side, seeing her grinning from the corner of my eye.

She giggled. "Not until you give me the picture."

"Well, I can't give you the picture if you won't let me up," I retorted, glaring at her the best I could. "Please let me up?"

Letting out a sigh, I could feel the weight slowly being lifted off before I was able to get on my knees, turning around to hand Alice the picture only to find that she was closer than I had anticipated.

She let out a small gasp as her hands grazed the metal on the frame, her eyes on mine before I noticed them flicker to my lips. Her tongue darted out to lick her lips before she leaned in, her eyes slowly closing.

My breath caught in the back of my throat and I immediately stood up. "I-I have to go. I need to get ready for the party…"

Alice's eyes opened up and she looked up at me with her lips tugging downwards in a frown. "What about the homework?"

"It can wait, it's not due until Friday, anyway," I said as I gathered my book. "Thanks for inviting me over. I'll see you at the party."

And like that, I left her house, not looking back behind me.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Oh, and here come the people wanting to kill me, I'm sure.**

**First, I would like to say that some of you are funny. Felix might be a cheater, but that doesn't mean Rose is one; she's got more sense than that. The baby was not Emmett's, it was Felix's, though he too thought that Rose cheated on him with Emmett. Emmett just helped her out by taking her to the clinic to get things...sorted, and when he was dropping her off at her house they actually kissed. So yay for the Emmett/Rose ship!**

**Second, I guess I should warn you about the next chapter. There is a sex scene with Bella and Jacob in it, but that's because someone makes Bella think that a guy like Jake won't be with her unless she gives him a little something something. Don't be displeased about that, though, as the chapter involves Bella getting a bit tipsy and getting a ride home with Alice...I won't spoil anything else. ;)**

**A lot of you were _so_ turned off by the BJ I wrote last chapter. Bella is a teenage girl and, I'm sure, that there _are_ girls out there who are insecure. Jake is a good guy and he was trying to get her to stop but he _is_ a teenage boy and if a girl puts her mouth on you...well, he couldn't say no after that.**

**Until next time.**


	10. Chapter 10

**The Twilight Saga is the rightful property of Stephenie Meyer; I only take credit for my own ideas.**

**Songs in this chapter are: **_I Gotta Feeling _**by **_The Black Eyed Peas _**and **_DJ Got Us Falling In Love Again _**by **_Usher_**.**

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><p><strong>Chapter Ten<strong>

"_Fill up my cup! Mazel tov! Look at her dancing! Just take it off!" _blasted from the speakers as I made my way through the throng of dancing bodies, girls letting their guys grind against them as they held their red cups in the air.

Biting my lip, I finally found my way into the kitchen, surprised to see Riley leaning against the counter, a plastic red cup hovering over his lips.

"Riley?" I started as I put my hand on his shoulder sympathetically.

He sighed before he took a sip of his drink, shaking his head. "Nothing… it's nothing, really."

"It doesn't look like nothing," I said before I pursed my lips. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. Just know that I'm here if you need someone to talk to."

Letting out another sigh, he turned to look at me, his eyes redder than normal and his face paler than I remembered. "My dad he…I told him that I—well—that I had a boyfriend and he-he practically stood up and walked out of the room like he couldn't be in the same _building_ as me. God, why do parents have to be assholes?"

Pursing my lips once more, I wrapped my arms around him. "It's okay, Riley. Just give him some time, alright?" Waiting until he wrapped his arms around me, I breathed in through my nose and could smell a distinct scent that clung to him. Pulling back, I raised an eyebrow at him. "You're not—drinking your sorrows are you?"

He shook his head. "No, this is just my first beer, though it will probably be my last one. I do have to drive home and I _really_ don't want my dad catching me drunk. That probably wouldn't sit too well with him." Taking a deep breath, he patted my shoulder before giving me a smile. "Thanks, Bella, for being a good friend."

As he left the room, I bit my lip as I realized he had lied to me. No one would've been _that_ pale or had blood-shot eyes if they had one drink.

Running a hand through my hair, I glanced inside the living room and saw Edward in the corner, his lips at Kate's neck while he held a cup in his hands. If Edward was here, that meant Alice was here too…

Taking a quick breath, I looked away, trying hard to _not_ think about the friend that had almost kissed me earlier in the day, when I noticed the stack of red cups.

_Well, doesn't hurt to try it_, I thought as I grabbed a cup and opened the fridge, looking at the selection of beer before the fridge door was closed in my face.

"Two dollars," I heard a familiar voice say and, turning around, I recognized the man behind it. "Sodas are free, but beer isn't."

Nodding, I reached into my pocket and fumbled for the dollars that Emmett had handed to me in the jeep, giving the two Washington brothers to Sam. "That should cover it."

He stuffed the two bills into his pocket. "You want to pay upfront for the next beer, or do you think that this will be your only one?"

"People pay upfront for their beer?"

"Yeah. Kind of stupid too, if you ask me. Sometimes I get lucky and they forget that they paid for beer they hadn't had yet, so they leave without consuming their beverage. Help yourself to the beer," he added before he walked out of the living room.

_Wonder where he came from, _I wondered before I opened the fridge again, grabbing a can of beer and cracking it open, pouring the light brown liquid into my cup. Hesitantly I lifted the cup to my mouth, taking a small sip of the drink before I swallowed, looking at the cup in my hand. _That's actually pretty good…not like I was expecting, anyway._

After taking two more drinks, I poured the rest of the can into the cup, almost making it overflow, before I tossed the can into the trash can and headed into the living room.

Or at least I tried, before an arm shot across in front of me, blocking me from going any further. Following the arm to find its owner, I looked and saw a smirking face, his faux hawk familiar.

"Don't I know you from somewhere?" he asked, his voice coy as I noticed his muscles tightening underneath his shirt. Trying to show off, it seemed.

"No, I don't think so," I said, chuckling as I tried to move past him.

He wasn't having that. He shifted to the side, his smirk larger. "Yeah, I think I do. You were that one girl that was checking me out at the beach party. You know, you were there with that one dude with the spiky hair and you saw me and my buddies?"

_Oh,_ I thought as I remembered the group of shady characters that were on the beach, the faux-hawk dude that was smiling at me. _Him. _"Oh, right."

"My name is James," he said with a smile, offering his hand. "Might I get the privilege of knowing yours?"

"Bella," I said, taking a sip of my drink instead of taking his hand. I had no clue where it had been and I really didn't want to find out. "What are you doing here? Looking to play basketball with Quil, Embry and Paul again?"

James laughed. "That's what he told you we were doing? Man, he should really think about telling the truth to his girlfriend."

Furrowing my brow, I looked at him in confusion. "He lied to me? What were you really doing?"

He laughed again, but this time he shook his head. "No, no. If your boyfriend doesn't want you to know, I'm not going to rat him out. Besides," he said, cocking his head to the side, "you really don't need him, anyway."

"Oh, really?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at him. "What do I need, then?"

"Well, first off, he's a rich bastard with good looks and if you aren't going to give him what he wants, he's just going to find some other girl to suit his needs."

"But Jake doesn't—"

"Oh, trust me," James chuckled, "he does. Every guy does. Secondly, you're too pretty to be hanging out with a…guy like him."

I raised my eyebrow again. "And you're better?"

"Well, I can probably show you a better time," he said, flashing a grin. "How about you and I go to the spare bedroom and have some fun? Promise you won't regret it," he winked.

"Witherdale!" I heard someone yell and, as James turned around, I recognized the brown haired guy that was with him. "Get back over here. We're done."

"Damn it, Raoul, I was just about to get some!"

I chuckled. "No, you weren't."

James glared at me before he huffed and walked towards his friend who slapped him in the back of the head, whispering something into his ear as they walked out of the front door.

"Look who came," I heard a voice whisper from behind me before I felt a pair of arms wrap around my waist. "What are you doing in here? Shouldn't you be dancing?"

Turning around, I came face to face with Jake and, since he was just so damn good looking, I pressed my lips to his in a heartbeat. I felt him smile against the kiss before he pulled me closer to him, his tongue entering my mouth without question as his hands slid down towards my butt.

This reminded me about what James said about guys and how they _always_ wanted it. Jake was a good guy and he was a good-looking guy so…maybe…maybe I should have sex with him? Just so he'll stay? I mean, I'm not on my period anymore—thank God—so that wasn't going to be a problem, but…what if I wasn't good? What if I wasn't what he wanted?

Pulling apart from the kiss I quickly downed the rest of my drink, hoping that the liquid courage would help me for what I was about to do, and, when the drink was empty, I threw it onto the ground. "Want to go upstairs?" I whispered into his ear.

He looked at me incredulously. "You mean…like…"

I nodded. "Of course."

"But, Bella…I don't want to force you into anything that you do—"

"Jake, I want this, and I want _you. _Now, do you want to go upstairs?"

He nodded his head. "As long as you do."

With a smile I grabbed his hand and led him up the stairs, passing a couple that were making out on the middle of the staircase, before I walked into the closest open bedroom, closing the door behind us, making sure it was locked.

"Take your shirt off," I whispered before I took his earlobe in between my teeth, my hands tugging at the bottom of his shirt.

"Alright," he said in a soft breath, taking a step back and removing his shirt, revealing his toned physique, a little bit of hair trailing from his belly button to below his belt. "Now yours," he whispered hungrily, his hands at my shirt before he tugged it off of me.

I bit my lip as I did my best to suppress a blush, embarrassed that I was now in my bra in front of him. I had breasts, yes, but they weren't anything to write home about.

"God, you're so…beautiful," Jake said before he pressed his lips to mine, his arms wrapping around my body as he led me towards the bed.

Once we were on there, our tongues danced inside my mouth, his hands reaching behind me as he fumbled with the clasp on my bra, before I heard an audible snap, the bra hanging loose on my shoulders. Delicately, with his teeth, he grabbed each strap and slowly pulled them off of my arms, flicking the bra onto the floor before he brought his lips to my nipples, sucking on them gently.

A moan escaped my mouth as my head went back as I felt my core tighten, my underwear becoming slightly damp as I felt his hands on my stomach, working their way down towards my center.

His hands were on the buttons of my jeans in no time, undoing the button before he unzipped them, throwing them off of me faster than he did my bra. He placed a small kiss on my lips. "I love you," he whispered before he kissed my jaw, and then my neck, going downwards on my body before I felt him press his lips right above the line where my underwear was.

In a mere manner of seconds the underwear was off of me and I was completely exposed in front of Jake, who now stood up as he undid his jeans, kicking them off before he took off his boxers. He stood there, in front of me, for a minute, his eyes looking me up and down.

"Are you sure you want this?" he asked, though, in all honesty, I could _see_ that he wanted this.

With a nod, I motioned him forward. "Come on."

He sighed before he crawled towards me, pressing his lips to mine one final time before he grabbed himself, hovering above my entrance. "Is this your first time?"

I nodded. "Yours?"

"Yeah," he said before he looked down. "You ready?"

Giving him another nod, I felt him enter me slowly, my eyes wincing as I felt him break my hymen.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, just keep going."

And so he did. In and out, in and out. It was like a blur and, just like that, I felt him leave me rather quickly, his sperm falling onto the comforter.

"Sorry…I didn't have a condom," he said with a shrug. "Were you okay with that?"

With my chest heaving, I gave him a nod. "Yeah, that was…" _new, strange, hard to describe _"…great."

He grinned. "It was great for me, too, baby."

A low, vibrating sound cut through the silence in the room and Jake quickly reached for the phone in his pants pocket, his eyes on the screen as his lips tugged downwards.

"Shit, looks like there is something wrong at the garage, Embry needs me," he muttered before he threw his clothes on in a manner of a minute, his expression apologetic. "Sorry I have to leave so quickly. You need a ride home?"

I shook my head. "No, Emmett gave me a ride, I'm sure he can take me home."

Jake nodded. "Well, I had great Bella, and I feel really bad for leaving, I can stay if you wa—"

"No, no. You go on and help Embry," I said with a smile. "Go make sure your garage is okay."

He grinned before he ran out of the room, closing the door behind him.

With a sigh I got off of the bed and gathered my clothes, putting them on slowly before I eventually walked down the stairs, noticing that the couple that was making out on the steps was long gone.

From the corner of my eye I noticed that Alice was talking to Katie, her eyes flashing to mine in an instant, and, making sure I didn't look at her again, I headed towards Sam, handing him two more dollars.

"Here," I said before I walked back into the kitchen, grabbing another beer from the fridge, this time not bothering to get a cup.

Chugging down that beer in less than five minutes probably wasn't the best thing to do, but, I felt that I had to. I mean, I couldn't _believe_ that I did that with Jake. I mean, I thought I was going to save it until marriage but now I wasn't a virgin. I just…it was hard to believe.

"Bella?" I heard a familiar voice ask and, before I knew it, the pixie-like cheerleader was in the room with me, her eyes full of concern as she placed her hand on my shoulder. "What are you doing here?"

"Partying," I slurred.

She chuckled. "Seems someone can't hold their liquor. I meant what are you _still_ doing here. Emmett left about five minutes ago."

I shrugged. "Jake and I were…upstairs…"

Alice pursed her lips and looked behind her. "Come on, I'll give you a ride home. Edward left with Kate, anyway."

"No, no, I can—I can walk home," I murmured as I walked past her, but stopped when I felt her hand on my wrist.

"Your house is ten blocks away. It's not going to hurt me to take you there. Come on," she said, leading me towards the front door before the cool night air greeted me. "Let's just hope you don't run into your parents when you walk in. How much did you drink?"

I lifted up two fingers. "Dos," I answered in Spanish as she opened the passenger side door on her bug.

Once I was inside, she scurried to the driver's side door and got in, quickly starting her little bug before she drove off. I reached for her radio and turned it to the one station I knew, bobbing my head as I recognized the beat of the song.

"'Cause baby tonight, the DJ got us fallin' in love again," I sang along with Usher.

Alice only looked at me incredulously as I sang to the song, and, within five minutes, she pulled up at my house. "Come on, I'll walk you to the door."

With a nod I got out of the car and staggered to the door, giggling when I almost tripped. "I almost fell on my face," I said before I laughed again.

"Shh, your parents are probably sleeping," she said before she stopped at the porch. "Alright, well, this is as far as I'm going. Make sure you're quiet, alright?"

I nodded. "Thank you for driving me here, Alice. You're like my Prince Charming."

Alice laughed. "Yeah, that's funny."

"It's true. You rescued me!" I said before I leaned forward, pressing my lips to hers for a small kiss, pulling back with a grin. "And every Prince deserves a kiss as a thank you."

With that, I walked inside my house, closing the door behind me before realization set in.

_Oh fuck, _I thought, my eyes growing wide, _what did I just do?_

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Now, I gave you the warning that there was going to be some Jake/Bella scene that most of you wouldn't like, but I told you that if you could grit through this chapter, the ending was going to make you happier. Well, at least it's some progression for Bella and Alice, right?**

**I imagine that many of you are going to kill me now. I'd rather you kill James; he was the one who put it into Bella's head that she needs to give Jake what he wants in order to ensure that he stays.**

**Before I go, I would like to inform you that the first chapter of my new story **_The Secrets of the Olympic Peninsula_**, is now up. It's not Bellice, but it is BeLeah. Hopefully many of you would like to read that.**

**Without further ado, I hope you wait until the next chapter which includes a puppy that gets to be taken home! (I'll also have a pic available when I post it, don't worry).**_  
><em>


	11. Chapter 11

**The Twilight Saga is the rightful property of Stephenie Meyer. I only take credit for my own ideas.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Eleven<strong>

"Are you going to get the turkey, Mom?" Emmett asked as he walked into the kitchen, watching as Mom and I prepared our Thanksgiving meal. I was stirring the green beans and the potatoes while Mom was preparing the stuffing.

"Oh, my God," she said, slapping herself. "I knew I forgot _something_. Oh, I'm so embarrassed."

Emmett chuckled. "Can't really have a Thanksgiving dinner without a turkey, can you?"

"Bella, can you take care of this stuff while I run to the store?" she asked me, giving me a pleading look.

I nodded. "Yeah, I can."

"Good. I can't _believe _I forgot the turkey!" she exclaimed as she walked out of the kitchen, grabbing her purse and her car keys before she ran out of the house.

"Same ol' scatter brained Mom," Emmett teased before he leaned against the counter, his lips pursed as he looked at me. "So, how are you and Jake doing?"

"Uh…" I paused, staring at the pot of potatoes with pursed lips as I tried to figure out where this conversation was headed. "We're doing good. Better than that, even. We're happy together."

"Mmm," I heard him muse. "And you and Alice?"

_Crap. What does he know about me and Alice? _"We're good."

"Really?" he asked in an incredulous tone and, when I turned to look at him, he was raising an eyebrow. "Then why don't you sit with her at lunch anymore?"

With a sigh, I grabbed the spoon and started to stir the green beans once more, trying to keep my face composed as I ignored his question. What would he say if I told him the truth? _About that, Emmett…I've been avoiding her because two months ago I kissed her and I have a feeling she likes me but I'm with Jake and things could get awkward…fast. _"No reason."

It _had_ been two months since that party when I had my first, and second, beer and, subsequently, kissed my best friend, who did kiss me back. I had been avoiding her like the _plague_, which was hard to do, especially since we sat next to each other in Geometry and in Art, but I had managed it.

I knew she had wanted to talk to me about it, but I think after the first week of me avoiding her, she got the picture and kept quietly to herself.

Running a hand through my hair, I turned to Emmett with a small smile. "Why'd you ask?"

He shrugged. "No reason. Rose just wanted me to tell you that Alice has been miserable and she _thinks_ it has something to do with you. Are you two in a fight or something?"

"Not really…Jake and I have just been…busy…" I said, taking my bottom lip in between my teeth. Over the past two months we had also been more physical and, I couldn't lie, it felt better than the first time, but I couldn't help but think that there was something Jake didn't want to tell me. Sometimes he acted so secretive and then other times he just seemed…angry for some reason.

For some reason, I knew that I didn't want to know what it was about but…still…there had to be something I could do, right?

"Alright, well, if you get yourself into any trouble, just know that I'm here to help," he said with a nod. "And you should really make up with Alice…you two used to be like this," he twisted his fingers together in emphasis, "and now I hardly see you two together."

Giving him a nod, because I really didn't know what to say to that, I waited for him to leave the room before I took a deep breath.

What was Alice doing to me?

* * *

><p>"So there is going to be this party next week," Jake started as I watched him work on my truck, sitting on a crate while he leaned over the engine, his rear-end to me. Needless to say, I enjoyed the view. "We should go."<p>

"I don't know, Jake," I said, dropping my gaze to the floor. "The last time I went to a party, I puked all over the inside of your Mustang, remember?"

He chuckled as he stood up, turning to face me with his half-dimpled grin. "Maybe you shouldn't drink four beers this time, eh?"

"God, I doubt I'm going to drink again…I woke up with the _worst_ hangover ever," I groaned, rubbing my temples at the memory of how hard my head was pounding.

"It's a good thing your brother was at the movies with your parents. They'd probably kill me if they knew I had taken their baby girl to an alcoholic party."

I snorted. "If they would kill you, I'm afraid of what they'd do to _me_. _I'm_ their daughter and Dad…boy, he'd be through the roof if he knew I had tasted alcohol."

"So come with me. You don't have to drink anything; we could just go and have fun. I promise…you won't regret it."

"I don't kn—" I paused when I felt the phone in my back pocket vibrating, and, with pursed lips, I pulled it out to see I had a new message.

_So, I know you don't want to talk to me, but the puppies are ready to go home now and I figured that you'd want to pick up yours. His name was Jet, right? At least, that's what Emmett told me, since we're not talking and all._

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I could tell that Alice was upset that we weren't talking even through text.

"That should do it," Jake said before he closed the hood of the truck, a pleased smile on his lips. "Looks like she's ready to go home with you, Bella," he said before he reached into his pockets, pulling something out and tossing it to me.

When I caught it, which I was able to since my left arm was no longer encased in plaster, nor did I have the brace on, I noticed that he had tossed me a set of keys. "Great, Jake. Thanks. I'm going to head out, now, though. I just got a text that said Jet was ready to be taken home."

Jake looked at me and nodded. "You're coming to the party, though, right?"

I nodded. "Of course."

"Cool, I'll pick you up," he said with a grin.

* * *

><p>"Oh, Bella, it's been awhile," Esme said as she answered the door. I stood on their porch with my hands in my pockets, feeling awkward about being here. What would Alice say to me? Would she try to kiss me again? Would she slap me? "Alice is already in the living room with the puppies. Jet is so excited to meet you…you hadn't seen him since he was first born, have you?"<p>

I shook my head. "You said so yourself, Esme, it _has_ been awhile," I said as I walked in through the door, going into the living room to find Alice playing with four puppies. They were _a lot_ bigger than I remembered. The one with brownish fur, I presumed Jet, had a patch of white on his chest and, when he stopped to look at me, one of his ears was flipped over.

Alice looked up at me, her lips pursed as she put on a half-smile. "Hey, Bella."

"Hey, Alice," I said, putting on my own half-smile as I waved at her. "Is this him?" I asked, pointing to the brown puppy as he started to chase his tail.

She nodded. "Yeah, it is. He's quite the rapscallion, and he likes to instigate fights with his sisters, but he's a good pup; he knows how to listen."

With a nod, I quickly got down onto my knees, patting my thighs as I whistled. "Come here, Jet."

Jet gave a yip before he ran to me, sniffing my hand curiously before he licked it.

"He likes you already," Alice giggled. "That's a good sign."

"Yeah," I chuckled as Jet tried to nip my hand, his mouth open as he bent down into a playful crouch. "Looks like he wants to play, too."

"If it's okay with him," Alice started and, when I looked up to see her, her lips were pursed, "I'd like to talk to you."

_I figured we were going to have this discussion now…_ I nodded as I got to my feet. "I guess we should."

Alice stood up herself, brushing off her jeans before she passed me, heading up to her room. I followed her as Jet went back to play with his sisters, feeling even more awkward as she closed the door behind us.

"Why are you avoiding me?" she asked as she turned to look at me. "You were the one who kissed me, not the other way around."

"It's…complicated, Alice," I said with a sigh before I sat down on her bed, crossing my legs together. "I'm with Jake and I…I love him."

She raised an eyebrow as she walked over towards the bed, putting her hand on one of the bedposts. "You don't sound so sure."

"I thought I was but then…"

"You kissed me," she continued, cocking her head to the side. "Why?"

"Probably because I was confused about why _you_ wanted to kiss _me_ earlier?" I offered with a shrug. "I don't know, okay. I was…tipsy." _Couldn't really say that I was drunk, because I realized what I had done a minute after I done it. _"My head wasn't on right."

"Maybe the alcohol was trying to help you realize something?" she asked, tapping her finger on the bed post. "Maybe it was trying to tell you that you do have feelings for me?"

I shook my head, looking at the hardwood floors. "I doubt that's it."

"Hmm," she mused before she let out a sigh. "Bella, I thought we were friends."

"We are," I said with a nod. "Best friends."

"Then why are you lying to me?" she asked, and, when I looked up to see her, her lips were pursed.

"I'm not, Alice," I said, standing up. "You're the one who's lying. Why won't you tell me the truth about why you don't like Jake?"

Alice took a deep breath. "It's not that simple. There are things about him that I don't like, okay?"

"Oh yeah," I started, raising an eyebrow, crossing my arms as I looked at her incredulously. "Name them."

"Well," she sighed, "for one, he's a jackass. I know you don't see that he is, but that's because he plays nice as an act around you. Growing up, I learned the hard way that he was a jerk. When I came out he was one of the ones that gave me the most crap; he was dating Jessica back then so I'm pretty sure she learned how to hate from him. And then, well…I don't think he walks in a straight line, if you get what I'm saying."

"You think…he does drugs?" I asked. "Yeah, right. I'm sure I'd know it if he were taking drugs."

Alice shrugged. "It would explain a lot of things. I mean, why else does those shady looking characters hang around with a bunch of teenagers? Why is he hanging around Sam all the time? Sam's probably his dealer or something."

"That can't be it," I said, putting my hands on my hips. "Jake doesn't do drugs, I know this."

"Really? Has he sometimes acted like he was angry, and then after he leaves for the bathroom he's better?"

I pursed my lips; I couldn't argue with her, I had noticed that, but I figured it was because he had been backed up and he was finally able to blow his load. Maybe she was right…maybe he was on drugs. "So what if he is? It's not like he's a bad guy. There has to be another reason you don't like him."

"There is," she said with a nod, and, after I gave her an expectant look, she sighed. "He has the one thing that I want, okay? And that automatically makes me hate him."

Looking at her, I knew almost immediately what she meant and, after I sighed, I walked towards the door. "Thanks for telling the truth, but I think I'm going to go to home now."

Turning for the door, I put my hand on the doorknob just as Alice sighed. "Will you at least stop avoiding me? I miss my best friend."

Running a hand through my hair I turned to face her, noticing her arms crossed over her chest. "I don't know, Alice. You gave me a lot to think about."

"You mean…" she trailed off, dropping her gaze to the floor.

"I meant about Jake being on drugs. I need to think about that."

With that, I opened the door and left her standing behind me, knowing that I had probably hurt her. Heading down the bottom of the stairs I quickly gathered Jet and got into my new truck, hopping in and driving home, thinking about what Alice said to me.

Was it possible? Was Jake doing drugs? And what about Alice? Could it be that she saw me as more than a friend?

As I drove I realized that I had _a lot_ to think about over the next few days.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Yes, Bella had been avoiding Alice for about two months. Yes, Alice really likes Bella. Yes, there is a link as to what Jet looks like on my profile.**

**Next chapter Bella and Alice have another lovely chat that gives Bella a lot more to think about and Jake offers something to Bella and she isn't pleased about it...**


	12. Chapter 12

**The Twilight Saga is the rightful property of Stephenie Meyer; I only take credit for my own ideas.**

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><p><strong>Chapter Twelve<strong>

Jet let out a yip as I walked towards my closet, peering inside to see if there was _anything_ I could wear. Some junior boy was throwing a party because his parents went out of town to visit his relatives in Florida, Austin Marks, I think is who he was, and Jake had invited me to go with him.

He had also told me to wear something nice.

"There's nothing nice in this piece of shit closet," I grumbled as I kicked the door frame, glaring inside of my closet as Jet whimpered and crawled under my bed. My walls came tumbling down as I got to my knees and crawled towards him, an apologetic expression on my face. "I'm sorry, Jet. Did I scare you?" I asked in my "pet" voice.

With a shorter whimper, Jet crawled towards me, his tail thumping on the hardwood floors before he used his licked my nose with his little tongue.

I chuckled. "You're so silly," I told him as I reached over to pat his head, glancing at the clock to see that Jake would be here to pick me up in about fifteen minutes.

And I _still _hadn't found anything nice to wear.

Groaning as I stood up, I glared inside of my closet again. "Why don't you have something in there that would look nice?"

As I walked towards it, I briefly wondered if my white halter top was clean. That was nice enough, and I'm sure Jake would appreciate seeing _some_ cleavage, instead of letting it hang out like some girls I knew. Flipping through the clothes that were hanging up I, thankfully, found the halter top I had thought about and, after I took off my current shirt, I quickly put it on, looking down to see that it had covered my bra. I hated it when girls showed off their bras; it wasn't attractive.

A honking horn startled me out of my thoughts, causing me to jump and Jet to whine, before I heard a knock on my door. "Bella, Jake's in the driveway."

I suppressed a snort; Jake really lost the courtesy of coming to the door to pick me up over the last two months, didn't he? Grabbing the coat that was hanging off of my desk chair, I slid my arms through the sleeves as I headed down the stairs, a smile on my face as I opened the door. Waving to Jake, I quickly closed the door behind me before I skipped to his Mustang, sliding into the passenger side seat as Jake gave me an appreciative nod.

"Hey," I said with a smile before I leaned over and pressed my lips to his. His tongue quickly dived inside my mouth as he reached up with his right hand, entwining his fingers in my hair as he dominated the kiss. When he pulled back, I raised an eyebrow at him. "What's that about?"

"What? I can't kiss my girlfriend?" he asked a bit too roughly, his eyebrows knitting together in frustration. "Is there a law against that?"

"No…" I said warily, grabbing my seat belt and clicking it tight as I looked at him. "I meant why did you kiss me like _that_? Usually when you first see me it's just a peck."

"It's nothing, alright," he said with a shrug before he started to back out of the driveway. "Just thought I'd say hello."

"Mmm," I mused but didn't press on it. Jake probably had a busy day and was glad to see me or something.

Or, like Alice had said, he was on drugs and he was irritable because he hadn't had his fix.

Shaking my head of the thought, I watched as Jake turned on the radio to keep the car from being silent as he drove to the party, which took about five minutes. As soon as we got out of the car, Jake wrapped his arm around me and led me to the door with a grin on his face. Knocking on the door, he looked down at his feet as he shifted onto his other leg, letting out a sigh.

"What's wrong?" I asked, nudging him with my elbow.

He looked at me and smiled. "Nothing, babe. Just wishing my mom was here for the holidays. I'm always kind of depressed this time of year. She was actually killed on Christmas Eve by a drunk driver, so it's always a little hard on me."

I rubbed his arm sympathetically. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"It's okay, really. I just—I'm better now that I have you," he added with a smile before the door opened, revealing a dude with blondish hair that seemed to defy gravity. Seriously; him and Edward could've had a contest to see who had the wildest hair.

"Demetri," Jake said, furrowing his brow as he looked at the blonde who answered the door. "Why didn't Austin open the door?"

"He's busy," Demetri said as he glanced at me, before returning his gaze back to Jake. "We're settled in upstairs."

Jake ignored him as he pushed past Demetri, making sure he bumped into his shoulder as he headed into a different room. Demetri watched him with pursed lips, and, with a sigh, I followed after him.

Almost immediately I stopped because it seemed I had lost him in the crowd of grinding bodies as a new song came on. It was one I recognized and I let out a chuckle as I wondered _why_ someone would choose this song.

"_Lock eyes from across the room, down my drink while the rhythms boom," _the speakers played while my eyes caught Alice's. She was in the corner with her lips pursed as she caught my gaze, her hand holding a cup as she lifted her other one in a half wave.

She was wearing an ensemble that was sure to drive the boys (even though I knew that wasn't her targeted audience) wild. Her arms were covered by a black leather jacket that was on top of a red, sequined tank top that definitely showed cleavage. She looked a bit taller than I remembered her being, so I gathered that she was wearing heels, and, when a couple of people had danced out of the way, my suspicions were confirmed. I also noticed that she was wearing a pair of skinny jeans that made her ass look _really _good.

_Wait, what? _

Shaking my head, I avoided her gaze as I caught the sight of Jake's back through one of the open doorways. Pushing myself through the moving bodies, I quickly walked into the kitchen to see Sam and Jake. Jake quickly looked at me and smiled.

"Hey, Bella," he said, pressing his lips to my cheek. "I'll have to take care of something but you'll be okay with Sam, right?"

Glancing up at the large Quileute in question, who smiled as he noticed my gaze, I nodded. "Yeah, sure."

Jake gave his own nod then before he left the room in a flash, disappearing among the sea of people.

"So, you want a beer?" Sam asked after we stood there awkwardly for about ten seconds.

I shook my head. "I didn't bring any money."

"Oh, don't worry. This time it'll be free," he said with a grin as he opened the fridge and handed me a beer. "It's on me."

Grabbing the can from his hands with a wary look, I swallowed the lump in my throat as I got a sinking suspicion that _something_ wasn't right. "Uh…thanks…" I said before I ducked out of the room, trying to see if I could spot Jake among the crowd. With a sigh, I realized it was useless when I felt a hand on my shoulder, almost causing my jump from the spot I stood.

"Sorry," I heard a familiar voice chuckle and when I turned to face its owner, I came face to face with Alice, who gave me a smile. "Didn't mean to scare you."

Clearing my throat, I took a step back, because, for some weird reason, I felt…weird being that close to Alice, but I didn't understand why. It was almost like she was Jake; the feeling I had in my stomach was similar to the ones I experienced when I anticipated Jake's next move before we moved to a bedroom.

"No, it's okay," I said with a small smile, looking at the top of my can as I pursed my lips, shifting my weight from one leg to the other awkwardly.

"You're still avoiding me," she murmured almost too quietly for me to hear against the loud rhythm that echoed throughout the room. Feigning that I hadn't heard her, I bit my lip as I continued looking at the beer can, trying to figure out where this conversation was going. "You're still avoiding me," she repeated, louder this time, so I knew I wasn't able to ignore her.

With a sigh I ran my hand through my hair. "I told you I needed time to think."

"Time to think about what? Look, Bella…I miss having you as my friend and you can just…forget about my silly crush on you, okay? As long as it means we can be friends."

"But we can't Alice!" I said a bit too loudly, a couple of girls turning around to look at us before they scoffed and continued to dance. Taking a deep breath, I shook my head. "We can't just forget about it because we…we kissed and I…"

"You're not sure what that means," she continued for me, raising an eyebrow. She opened her mouth to speak again but instead she closed it and, after about fifteen seconds of silence, she spoke again. "So…where's Jake?"

Looking around the room, I tried to see if could spot Jake and, when I didn't, I shrugged as I turned back to Alice. "I'm not sure."

"You know," she started, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear, "if you were my girlfriend, I wouldn't treat you the way he does. He acts like you're just someone he can take anywhere to make himself look better…like a trophy wife. It's…disgusting."

"Alice, I already know that you don't like Jake, okay? Besides, we're never going to be…together, so the point is moot."

Alice chuckled, her lips curling up into a smile. "You say that, Bella, yet you're the one who kissed _me_. I honestly think you're just hiding from your feelings, which I don't understand, because you once said that if you were to fall in love with a girl, you wouldn't fight it. Where's that Bella? I figured she'd at least stay my friend."

With that, she turned around and sidled in between dancers before I noticed her talking to Rosalie, obviously trying to subtly tell me to think about what she said.

Was I in love with her? I mean, you can't really fall in love with someone in three months, can you? Besides, she was my friend and I didn't see her like that…

Well, okay, maybe after the almost kiss I thought about it and then when I kissed her (though I vaguely remember that now since I had been trying to forget about it) I swear I could feel something…like my heart was beating faster.

Did that mean I liked her? Was that why I kissed her? Because the alcohol gave me the courage to do something I wouldn't normally do?

Before I could contemplate further, I felt a large palm on my shoulder. Turning around to face the owner of the hand, I smiled when I noticed it was Jake, who grinned in returned before he reached for my hand.

"Come on, let's go upstairs," he whispered into my ear before he tugged my arm towards the staircase, leading the way as we headed up the stairs, passing by all kinds of litter that congregated there. Eventually we ended up in a bedroom with a bathroom attached to it, and, when Jake closed the door, I walked over to sit on the bed.

Jake's mouth was on mine almost instantly, his teeth nibbling my bottom lip as his hands quickly reached my breasts, not wasting any time as his thumb rubbed over the cotton that was covering my nipple.

He gently lowered me down onto the bed as his hands trailed down my shirt, reaching the hem of it before I felt his hand on my stomach, resting there as his tongue dove inside of my mouth like it was a lifeguard trying to rescue a drowning person. While he fought and maintained his dominance against my tongue, my hands slid to the bottom of his wife beater, trying to get a feel of the treasure he hid under the fabric, before I heard someone clear their throat from the bathroom.

Jake quickly pushed off of me as I looked at the intruder, my brow furrowing when I noticed that it was Sam standing there, his arms crossed and his eyebrow raised as he looked at us expectantly, a small smile on his lips.

"Sam, what are you doing here?" I asked, sitting up and adjusting my shirt. "Were you in the bathroom? I'm sorry we didn't check to see if anyone was in here."

"Actually," Jake started, turning to glance at me with a small smile, "I was kind of wondering if you would mind it if…well…"

"If I join you," Sam added, cocking his head to the side as he looked me up and down, his smile growing more prominent. "Jake said you wouldn't mind if I had my fun with you, too."

Turning to look at Jake, I raised an eyebrow at him. "You didn't think you should talk to me about the idea of a threesome? How could you even think I would agree to sleep with another guy?" Getting to my feet, I headed towards the door and looked at Jake, my jaw tight as I glared at him. "Why would _you _even agree to something like _that_? I thought you loved me, Jake."

"I do, Bella…you don't understand," Jake said as he got to his feet. "Sam…he really likes you and I couldn't agree to let him sleep with you on his own terms so I thought it would be better if I was there with you when we…"

I shook my head. "Jake, you don't understand. I thought you'd have enough respect for me to realize I would _never_ agree to something like this…it's horrible and disgusting."

Turning on my heel, I threw the door open and quickly walked down the stairs, looking to see if I could spot Emmett among the crowd. Thankfully my brother was larger and taller than most of the guys at Forks, so I noticed him fairly quickly; he was in the corner whispering into Rosalie's ear as she smiled at whatever he said. Making my way through the crowd, I tapped his shoulder once I was next to him, tapping my foot impatiently as I waited for him to turn around.

When he did, he raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, Bella? What is it?"

"Can you give me a ride home?" I asked.

"What about Jake?" he asked, crossing his arms as Rose gave me an irritated look. _Sorry I'm taking him away from your precious boyfriend and girlfriend time. _"He gave you a ride here."

"Jake and I are…" I paused as I tried to think of the right word, looking around the room in hopes that I could find something that would help me fill in the gap. My eyes caught the emerald green orbs of Alice's once more, her lips pressed together in a fine line before she turned back to her brother and Jasper, using her hands to elaborate whatever she was talking about. "We're not talking right now," I said, looking back at my brother when I remembered that he was waiting for an answer. "Can you please take me home?"

Emmett sighed and nodded before he turned to Rose. "Sorry, baby, but I got to do this."

"I understand," Rose said, glancing at me. "I hope you do the right thing, Bella," she said before she turned around and headed for the kitchen.

Staring after her in confusion, I shook my head as I briefly wondered what she was referring to before I followed my brother out of the house and into his jeep. As we drove to our house, I kept thinking about Alice and what she said.

Either way, I knew that there was definitely _something_ that Alice was doing to me; my only question was _what_.

Tomorrow I needed to talk to her. Alone.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I'm not even going to say what song was in this chapter. If you guess the song correctly, I'll answer any of your questions despite how spoiler-ish it is.**

**Next chapter turns out to be _very_ good for Alice. :)**


	13. Chapter 13

**The Twilight Saga is the rightful property of Stephenie Meyer; I only take credit for my own ideas.**

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><p><strong>Chapter Thirteen<strong>

"_Bella, its Jake. Look, if I had known you were going to take it badly, I wouldn't have suggested it. Please call me back? I love you. I'll see you at school if you decide not to call me, but please, Bella, I'm so, so, sorry."_

Fumbling with my phone, I pressed the number "7" before I heard the automatic female robot voice say _"There are no more messages". _With a groan I fell back onto my bed, careful that I didn't land on Jet, as he was napping at the foot of the bed, curled into a cute little brown ball as he twitched in his sleep.

Looking over toward him, I gave a half-smile before I remembered what I had to do today.

No, there weren't any tests or projects on the agenda that made me both nervous and anxious for school to start. My mind raced as I tried to think of how I would talk to her and ask her if…if she would kiss me.

Not that I liked her, at least, I think I didn't. It was to see if I _did_ like her. Would I feel something if I kissed her sober? Surely if she had a crush on me, she would be thrilled with the prospect of kissing me even if it seemed like there would be _no_ chance in the future, right?

Running a hand through my hair, I got up off of my bed and opened my door, only to hear Jet give a low whimper. Chuckling, I turned to see my puppy giving me the saddest and most adorable look, obviously not wanting me to go anywhere.

"Don't worry, Jet, I'll be back later."

"BELLA! GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE! WE'RE LEAVING!" I heard my brother's booming voice shout up the stairs, impatience ringing in his tone.

Glaring down the stairs, I stomped down there and playfully shoved him. "Jet was worried about me, you big oaf."

"Hey, it ain't my fault that that puppy has you wrapped around his little paw already. You're the sap that lets him do anything he wants."

"Have you _seen_ his face? He's adorable!"

"Yeah, yeah. Come on, let me get your puppy-loving butt to school," he said, rolling his eyes before he opened the front door. "Rose wants me to look over something for her. Let's go."

The ride to school mainly consisted of Emmett bobbing his head to the beat of a song, like usual, and me ignoring how ridiculous my brother looked as he drove his monstrous vehicle to the parking lot. Once we pulled into the lot, I noticed that Alice was there animatedly talking to Rosalie about something as Jasper and Riley made out on the hood of Riley's Toyota, earning a lot of disgusted, and a few interested, looks from the student body.

As soon as Emmett hopped out of the jeep, Rosalie's eyes were on him and a smile formed on her lips before she briskly walked towards us, Alice trailing behind her with her lips pressed together in a fine line.

Pursing my own lips, I got out of the jeep and looked at Alice, scratching the back of my neck as I watched Emmett and Rosalie greet each the way you would expect them too; with their mouths pressed together as they wrapped their arms around one another, pulling each other into their tight embrace.

Looking away from the public display of affection, I glanced at Alice and noticed that her eyes were already on mine, her lips still pursed before she cleared her throat.

"Are you talking to me now or have we not moved past it yet?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

I shook my head. "I'm talking to you but…" I paused as I noticed Jake looking over towards me with an expectant look, his arms crossed tightly over his chest and his eyebrow raised, tapping his foot impatiently as he waited for me to walk over to him. _You can wait a bit longer, Jake._ "Can we…do you mind if I go to your house later? There are some…" I glanced at Rosalie and Emmett, taking note that they were getting done with their little make out session, before I cleared my throat. "There are some things we need to talk about."

Alice nodded "Yeah, no problem. You want to come with Edward and I when we head home, or do you think you can get a ride?"

"Um…I'll ride with you. I'll probably have Jake pick me up afterwards." _Either way the talk goes, I'll need to see him after it. _

Her lips tugged downwards in a frown. It was barely noticeable, but I caught it. "Alright. Well, I'll tell Edward to wait for you when school lets out. He's the one who drove today."

I nodded as I noticed that Jake was growing even more impatient. "Well, I'll see you in Geometry," I said with a little wave before I walked over towards Jake, lightly shoving him on the arm. "What the hell was that about?"

"You didn't return my call," he answered simply.

"Because I knew I was going to see you at school," I said, rolling my eyes. "Besides, I'm still mad at you. How could you even _think_ I'd be interested in a threesome? Maybe you should've talked to me about that _before_ you invited Sam into the bedroom with us?"

"I know, I know," he said, grabbing my hands as he looked at me with sincerity in his eyes, his lips curling up into an apologetic smile. "And I'm sorry, alright? Next time, when I want to do something that considers you, I'll make sure I ask you _first. _I'm _so_ sorry, Bella. I love you and I don't know what I was thinking."

"You're lucky you're so cute," I said with a chuckle before I pressed my lips to his, smiling against the kiss as he moved his hand to the spot on my waist, holding me steady as he parted our lips gently, his tongue slowly sliding in to greet mine. When he pulled back, he smiled at me, a chuckle in his throat. "I love you too."

He wrapped his arm over me and led me towards the entrance of the school, nodding to some players on the basketball team before he stopped me at my locker. "How about I make it up to you? Take you out on a real date. We could go to _La Bella Italia. _Buy you anything you want, my treat."

"Isn't that an expensive restaurant?" I asked, turning my lock to fit with my combination. "Can you afford it?"

"I can afford to splurge every now and then," he said before he nudged me in the arm. "Come on, I'll take you after school."

"Actually, I was going to Alice's after school. But you can pick me up afterwards? About four-ish?"

He nodded. "Sounds like a date."

* * *

><p>"Wow, Bella, I can't believe you're coming to our house," Edward chuckled as he turned onto his street, glancing at me from his rear-view mirror. "Like seriously, when was the last time you came over?"<p>

"When she picked up Jet, remember?" Alice asked, though she glanced in my direction. She had opted to sit in the back with me, and we took the liberty of teasing Edward, calling him our chauffeur. "Now, Eduardo, I expect that you'll have cocktails in the back the next time we go out?"

"Stop with the chauffeur crap," he growled, his hands tightening against the steering wheel. "It's annoying."

"But Eduardo," I gasped, "it's so fun."

The car stopped abruptly, and that's when I noticed we were in his driveway. His head snapped to us as he glared at his sister and then at me. "My name is Edward. Not Eduardo."

"Jeez, Eddie, it was just a joke," Alice said as she opened her door, "don't be such a pansy-ass. Just because Kate is giving you the cold shoulder, it doesn't mean you need to snap at us."

"Why is Kate giving you the cold shoulder?" I asked as I got out of his Volvo, looking at him when he closed his door.

"I don't want to talk about it," he muttered under his breath.

Alice laughed before she turned to me. "He suggested to her that she should go down on him and now he is withdrawn from any sex at all."

I snorted. "No wonder he's so uptight."

"Yeah, yeah," he muttered as he walked up to his porch, "laugh it up."

Alice and I watched as he walked in the house before she turned to me, raising an eyebrow. "Do you want to go to my room and talk or…?"

"Your room is fine," I answered and, soon enough, we found ourselves in her bedroom. I waited until she locked the door and sat on the bed next to me before I took a deep breath. "Be honest with me," I breathed out before I glanced at her, "you like me, don't you?"

She let out a small sigh. "Yes, I do. I thought it was obvious?"

"How long?" I asked, looking away.

"Since I first laid my eyes on you. You're beautiful Bella, and, I know you're straight, but…there was a small part of me that always hoped you would fall for me like I had for you. I just…when you kissed me, it took me by surprise. It was a good surprise, don't get me wrong, but," she took a deep breath, "I just never expected it."

I only nodded at to what she said, not sure how I should respond now.

"Now," she started, breaking me out of my thoughts, "your turn to be honest with me. Do you like me?"

"I don't know," I answered truthfully. "I thought I didn't but…"

"But?" she pressed.

I sighed and turned to look at her. "I kept thinking about that kiss and _why _I kissed you. A part of me…felt really good after I kissed you but…now I'm just confused."

"I see," she said simply, pursing her lips.

"Would you…would it be alright if I kissed you?" I asked. "To see if it was the alcohol that gave me that feeling or if it's because I like you."

She shook her head, and my jaw dropped. She said no? Why? I figured she would've said yes. "Don't get me wrong, I'd love to kiss you again but…you're dating Jake and, as much as I dislike the guy, it wouldn't be fair to him if I were to kiss you."

"Right," I muttered.

"Believe me, I do, Bella. Oh, I so do, but only under the right circumstances," she gave me a small smile before she reached over and grabbed my hand, squeezing it lightly. "I don't want you to end up a ch—"

I couldn't take it anymore. I _had _to know. So the sure fire way to shut her up? Press my lips to hers and hope she doesn't push me off.

She remained stiff as I moved my lips against her frozen ones, silently pleading that she would just kiss me back when finally her lips started to work against mine, her right arm reaching around to rest softly on my hip, the same place Jake's had been only hours before.

My hand instinctively reached up for the nape of her neck as we kissed, my lips caressing hers before we both pulled back, looking at each other in awe.

"That was…" she breathed out. "How-how did you like it?"

"I can't lie and say it was horrible." In fact, it was better than Jake's. Her lips were softer than his and she didn't automatically stick her tongue inside my mouth unlike him and she just felt…good to kiss.

Did that mean…did that mean I _liked_ her?

"Does this mean…" I trailed off, hoping she would know what I was trying to ask.

Alice nodded. "It's a pretty good chance, yeah."

"I just…I don't know what I'm feeling right now," I said with a chuckle, shaking my head before I looked her in the eye. "That was…"

"Incredible? Wonderful?" she offered. "I haven't found a word to describe it yet. I'm still ecstatic that you kissed me and that you…like me."

"Tell me about it," I muttered before I looked to the floor just as I felt my phone vibrate. After pulling it out of my back pocket, I saw that it was Jake that left me a text.

_Hey, babe. Seconds away from the Cullen house. I'll see you soon, alright? Love you._

With a sigh I stood up. "I have to go but…I definitely have a _lot_ to think about."

"You won't avoid me again?" she asked as she stood up. "I mean, the last time we kissed you avoided me like the plague and, well…I don't want that."

"Neither do I…I just need to figure out what Jake means to me now," I said before I smiled. "Don't worry. I'll see you tomorrow at school."

"Let me know how you feel about him?"

I nodded. "Of course."

_I just have to figure that out for myself._

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><p><strong>AN: How many of you were expecting _that_? None, right? Next chapter is Bella's date with Jake and, well, it doesn't go the way Jake wants it to go.**

**Also, I know I've done this before but I'd _really _like it if you all would check out my story **_The Secrets of the Olympic Peninsula_**. It's not Bellice, it's actually BeLeah, _but_ there is going to be some Bellice moments in it. Please check it out? It deserves some love, too. :)**

**With that said, I hope you all enjoy this chapter. **_  
><em>


	14. Chapter 14

**The Twilight Saga is the rightful property of Stephenie Meyer. I only take credit for my own ideas.**

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><p><strong>Chapter Fourteen<strong>

"What's the matter, babe? You've been awfully quiet," Jake observed as he drove his Mustang along US 101, the heater keeping the car at a comfortable seventy-four degrees as the sun started to slowly creep down the sky, heading towards the horizon.

"Hmm, I haven't noticed," I mused, looking out my window just as a yellow Volkswagen beetle passed. This, of course, reminded me of the girl I had been thinking about for the past…I'm not even sure how long I had been thinking about her, and the way her lips felt when we kissed, how delicate she was…

"Really? Because we're almost there and you've barely said a word to me," he chuckled. "Something on your mind?"

I shook my head. "Not really," _except for the fact that I've been thinking about the kiss I had with my best friend just an hour ago. _"I guess I just didn't realize that Port Angeles was so far away."

Another chuckle escaped his lips as he turned off of the highway, his headlights automatically turning on as he drove under the cover of the trees that lined the road, his lips pursed before he reached over with his right hand and rested it on my knee. "Don't worry, Bella. I'm sure whatever you're thinking about will pass when you see the restaurant."

"Have you been there before?" I asked, tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear.

He shook his head. "No, but it's a popular restaurant that a _lot _of the teenagers like to go to so I've heard it from them. We should be there in about five minutes, though," he said with a grin. "Hopefully we can get a booth."

"Yeah, hopefully," I said before I sighed, thinking about how I kind of cheated on him earlier. Yes, I didn't have sex with Alice, but I still kissed her even though I was dating Jake. It was still wrong, right?

But if it was wrong, why did it feel _so _right?

Shaking my head free of the slightly impure thoughts about my best friend, I gave Jake a pleasing smile as I rested my hand against his, stroking the back of his knuckles while he drove silently through the streets of Port Angeles.

Three minutes passed and he pulled into a parking lot with a few cars surrounding the building, a family walking out with their Styrofoam boxes as the son tugged on the sleeve of his father's coat, trying to get his attention. Noticing the family, a small smile grew on my lips before I felt Jake's hand flip over and squeeze my own.

"That could be us someday," he said as he pulled into the parking spot next to them, being careful as to not hit the boy as he climbed into the backseat of the Range Rover.

"I'm not a big fan of kids, to be honest," I said as I watched the kid wave to me and, to not seem rude, I waved back. "I've never thought about having one myself."

"Is that why you're always adamant I wear a condom?" he joked as he turned off the Mustang.

I rolled my eyes. "I don't know about you, but _I _don't plan on getting pregnant in high school. I'm not going to end up like Amy Juergens, sorry."

Jake snorted. "You watch The Secret Life of the American Teenager? That show has gone downhill fast. Every time you turn around, someone else is pregnant."

Crossing my arms, I raised an eyebrow at him. "And how'd you know that's what I was referring to?"

His lips twitched before he opened the door to his Mustang. "Nothing," he muttered as he got out, closing the door behind him before he made his way around the front of the car, opening my door with his hand held out for me.

Taking his hand, I got out of his car and followed him inside the restaurant, surprised by the interior. There were several booths lining two of the walls and some intimate seating separate from them. The host saw us and nodded, waving us forward.

"Table for two?" he asked as he grabbed two menus, glancing at Jake with a small smirk. What was _that _about?

Jake nodded. "Yes, please."

The host nodded in return before he turned on his heel. "Right this way, please," he said before he led us towards a small table, a chair on opposite sides, that sat really close to the bathroom. For some reason I found that disgusting, but I kept my mouth shut seeing as we could've been right next to the doors; at least we were just around the corner from it.

Once we took our seats, Jake took the one that was closest to the bathrooms, the host handed us our menus and smiled. "Your waiter will be here shortly to take your orders," he said before he left, looking back over his shoulder as he headed towards his podium.

_Well, that wasn't weird. _"What do you think you're going to have?" I asked him as I opened my menu, looking at the selections. Half of them I couldn't even pronounce so I decided to go with the classic spaghetti and meatballs.

Jake pursed his lips as he looked at the menu, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration before he nodded. "The chicken alfredo. That sounds good."

Closing my menu, I looked around the restaurant, curious as to the décor. It wasn't a five star restaurant, no, but it wasn't something like McDonalds, either. It was clean and dimly-lit, perfect for romantic rendezvous and intimate outings; several couples were enjoying their meals as they gazed lovingly into each other's eyes.

Running a hand through my hair, I quickly turned back to Jake with a smile. "This is nice."

He nodded. "Yeah, better than the two restaurants we have in Forks, anyway."

I shrugged. "They aren't _that _bad."

"Well, they aren't good places for dates," he said with a smile before he reached across the table and grabbed my hands, his thumb brushing against the back of them. "I'm really glad you agreed to go on this date with me, Bella. I feel like you've been…kind of distant from me lately and I thought it was because you were going to dump me."

"Me, dump you?" I asked incredulously chuckling as I noticed a waiter coming in our direction. "That's impossible," I whispered just as the waiter walked up, holding a small note pad as he glanced in our direction.

"My name is Joshua and I'll be your server today. How about we start you off with some drinks first?" he asked as he looked at us expectantly, waiting for us to give him our drink order.

"I'll just take a coke," Jake said before he shrugged, "and we're ready to order, too."

Joshua nodded before he turned to me. "And for you?"

"Dr. Pepper," I said with a smile.

"And you said you were ready for your orders? Alright, what will you like?" he asked, turning to Jake.

"I'll have the chicken alfredo and Bella will have…" Jake trailed off before he furrowed his brow in confusion. "What are you going to have?"

"Just the spaghetti and meatballs, please," I said as I handed my menu to the waiter.

Joshua took mine and then grabbed Jake's before he nodded. "Alright. I'll take your order to the kitchen and I'll be back with your bread sticks and drinks."

With that, he left and Jake raised an eyebrow. "What were you saying about it being impossible for you to dump me?"

"I mean, look at you, Jake," I said, nodding my head in his direction. "You're fit, handsome, you have money, you're a good guy and…you can be really romantic. I can't compare to that. I should be the one afraid that you'll dump me." Of course, concerning recent evidence, it could be quite possible that I'll be the one to dump him.

It just depended on how tonight ends up.

Jake chuckled, shaking his head. "Bella, you don't have to worry, I won't—"

The sound of his voice seemed to drift off as I noticed two familiar guys walk into the restaurant, their eyes glancing around the room before they landed on Jake. One of them I didn't know the name of, but he quickly walked past the podium and headed towards the men's restroom as James followed, a smirk on his lips when he caught me looking.

Jake turned around in his seat, curious as to why I was looking over his shoulder, before he turned back to me just as James headed into the bathroom.

"I've got to go to the bathroom," Jake said as he stood up. "I'll be back."

Furrowing my brow, I watched as Jake slipped around the corner and, after biting my lip, I quickly stood up. Why were these guys here? It wasn't like we were at a party or anything, and why did Jake go with them? It didn't make any sense.

Walking around the corner, I stood near the men's restroom door with my lips pursed, trying to hear anything that would alert me that _something_ wasn't right. Alice could be right; Jake could be doing drugs and these were his dealers. If that was the case, I'd need to know the truth if I was going to help him.

All I could hear was murmurs, nothing significant that I could add to my suspicions, so I sighed.

"…the weed costs…" someone, it sounded like James, said in a hushed tone and my eyes widened.

Jake _did_ drugs. And James _was _his dealer. Taking a deep breath I headed back to my table, hoping that our waiter didn't think we were dining and dashing (even if we hadn't dined yet) and nodded at him when he placed our drinks and bread sticks on the table.

"Your food should be done in about fifteen minutes," Joshua said with a smile before he left.

Grabbing my cup, and inserting the straw into the liquid, I took a quick drink just as Jake walked around the corner, wiping his hands against his pants.

"Sorry, I just really had to go," he said with an apologetic smile as he sat down, James and his friend heading towards the entrance of the restaurant.

"Mmm," I mused as I took another drink, trying to gather my thoughts.

How could he be so _calm_? He bought drugs in a fucking restaurant! Shouldn't he be worried that there was a camera in there? Or that someone could've overheard the exchange; someone like a cop?

Shaking my head, I grabbed a bread stick and broke it in half. "Jake," I started as I looked at him, his brown eyes swirling with curiosity as he leaned forward to listen to what about I was about to say. "If I asked you something, would you be honest with me?"

Jake chuckled before he grabbed his straw and got it free from his wrapper, sticking it into his drink before he answered. "Of course I would, babe. Why would you think I wouldn't?"

"Okay, now, don't take this the wrong way but do you…do you use drugs?" I asked as I averted my gaze, looking at the two pieces of bread stick in my hand.

God, what if I was wrong? What if I just _thought_ I heard James because I was looking for a way out so I could be with Alice? What if Jake was just innocent?

Thankfully, Jake took my question lightly, laughing as he took a quick drink from his coke before he raised an eyebrow. "God, no. I'd never touch the stuff. Why did you ask? Someone spreading rumors about me doing drugs?"

I shook my head. "Forget it; it's stupid. I thought I overheard James saying something about weed and I figured that—"

"Wait," Jake said, his lip twitching, "you overheard James? What, were you like spying or something?"

"I was merely curious because—"

"Why on earth were you _spying_ on me?" he asked, gnashing his teeth together before he shook his head. "No, you know what? I thought you _trusted _me. Why would you even _do _that?"

"Jake, it wasn't like that I was just—"

"I thought you _loved _me. Jesus, Bella, why would you even _think_ I was on drugs and why did you feel the need to think that I was buying some _in the middle of a restaurant?_"

Several people turned to look in our direction after Jake's little outburst, some people pursing their lips in disapproval before they returned to their food, and I sighed as I ran a hand through my hair.

"Look, Jake, it's…nothing, really. I mean, yeah, I might've thought you were doing drugs but that's because you act…angry sometimes and then you leave for the bathroom and you're better."

"Because I drop a deuce," he said, rolling his eyes, "not because I was doing drugs."

"Then why did I hear James mention weed? If you're not doing drugs, what's going on?" I asked, crossing my arms as I raised an eyebrow.

He sighed, shaking his head as he stood up. "I never wanted to tell you this but…I guess I'll have to bring it into the open now that you…well…found stuff out. Give me a minute; I need to tell Joshua that we're not going to stay."

"Wait, what?" I asked, but it was too late. Jake was already on his way as he headed towards our waiter, who was taking a couple of men's orders, before he walked back towards me, nodding.

"We can go now," he said as he headed up to the register, pulling out his wallet.

Sighing, I stood up and followed him, standing behind him as he paid for our meal that we didn't even eat, before we walked outside and into his Mustang.

The only sound that could be heard as Jake headed towards the highway was the soft roar of his engine as he coasted through the streets, and, when he turned onto the highway, he let out another sigh.

"You have to believe me when I say I don't do drugs," he said, glancing in my direction before he shook his head. "I'm smarter than that, I don't do drugs."

"Then what was—"

"Let me finish," he said, holding out his hand before he took a deep breath, running his russet colored fingers through his short black hair. "When I was thirteen, my dad's diabetes took a turn for the worst. He used a _lot _of our money to go to the doctors and all, but…nothing helped. He became confined to a wheel chair. Money was tight afterwards; he had to quit his job and the disability checks only got us so far, you know?" He shook his head with a sigh. "I just…I wanted to do _anything_ to help out. I knew my father was struggling with the bills but he didn't say anything. Sam…noticed."

"What did he do?" I asked. "Did he offer you drugs?"

Jake snorted. "No. He offered me _help_. I know it's wrong but…it helps, it really does."

I raised an eyebrow. "How did he offer you help?" Was Jake trying to tell me what I think he was?

"I don't want to say it, because I don't think of myself as one, but…I'm going to stop once I've got a scholarship. I just need money to help me for college, because I _really_ want to go."

"Why haven't you stopped yet? You've got a garage now, Jake, you could easily work for it. A legal way."

"We can't talk about this anymore," Jake grumbled under his breath.

Well, now I knew what I had to do about Jake. Grabbing the phone out of my pocket, I quickly touched Alice's name, the first one in my phone book, and hit send message.

_There is something about Jake. Pretty sure I'm going to break up with him soon._

Looking out of my window, I slid my phone in-between my legs as I waited for her to reply, growing fed-up of the silence.

"Jake, why didn't you just tell me you…well…"

"Sell drugs?" he asked. "You can say it, Bella. It's not like I don't know that's what I do."

"You do know you're dating the daughter of a cop, right? Weren't you ever worried that I would, I don't know, turn you into him?" I asked incredulously.

Jake chuckled and opened his mouth to speak before he closed it with an audible snap. "I told you before, Bella. I'm only doing this so I can save money for college."

"Right," I said, rolling my eyes, "whatever."

My phone vibrated then, signaling that I had a text from Alice and, when I looked at the phone, I had to keep myself from laughing.

_I know best friends are supposed to say something like "I'm sorry" right about now but, honestly, I'm really happy. :) Though that makes me wonder…what…about us?"_

_Alice, _I started to type, pausing as I noticed Jake's knuckles going white as his grip tightened against the steering wheel, his jaw tight as he glared at the road. Whoa. What's going on with him? _I'm not sure, but I promise you that when I am sure, I'll make sure I let you know._

Tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear, I looked out the window and, for the rest of the ride back to Forks, I tried to think of how I would break up with Jake; what words I would say, to make sure I hurt his feelings as little as possible.

I just hoped I wouldn't regret it.

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><p><strong>AN: Yeah, I know. A sixteen year old drug dealer isn't realistic, but this is fiction, so who cares! :P**

**Next chapter? The breakup. Sadness.**


	15. Chapter 15

**The Twilight Saga is the rightful property of Stephenie Meyer; I only take credit for my own ideas.**

**Note: Okay, so apparently a 16 year old drug dealer _is_ realistic. Also, Jake just doesn't sell weed. Just saying.**

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><p><strong>Chapter Fifteen<strong>

The Mustang slowly came to a stop in front of my house before Jake switched it into park, shutting off the engine as he turned to look at me.

"Okay, I know _something_ is going through your mind right now. You haven't said anything on the ride back."

"We had a conversation which means that yes, I did talk during the car ride," I said, letting out a sigh as I looked out the window. Just need to wait for the perfect moment before I break his heart. Should I do it quickly so that it's like ripping a band aid off, or should I do it slowly, hoping he'd get the hint?

Jake let out a snort as he took the key out of the ignition. "The only time you talked was to say "yes" or "no" or "maybe". Three words on your part do _not _make a conversation. Can we talk about it, please?"

Running I hand through my hair, I turned to look at him, pursing my lips as I tried to think of what to say. "Yeah, Jake. We need to talk."

He seemed to have gotten the memo almost immediately. His lips tugged downwards and he shook his head hastily. "No. No, no, no. I don't want this to happen, Bella. I love you, you love me. Why do we have to do this?"

"Because, Jake, it's not right." It's not right that I want to kiss my best friend while I'm with you. It's not right that I _compare _your kisses to hers. "I do love you but…I think it's in the same way I love Emmett."

"It's because of the dealing thing, right?" he asked. "That's why you're dumping me? Because I tried to make money for my _family_?"

I shook my head. "No, that's not it at all—"

"Don't lie to me," he said, glaring at me and I knew that under the surface he was seething. Jake wasn't a violent guy, no, but I could tell from the fury in his eyes that it might be good if I got out of the car; after all, he could try to take me somewhere I didn't want to go. "Just because I deal it doesn't make me a bad person, alright?" he asked, though I could tell he was trying to be as calm as he could while my hand gripped the handle of the door.

"Alright," I said, turning to him, my hand firmly in place on the door handle as I looked at him, "part of it _is _the fact that you deal, alright? You're doing something _illegal _and if you hadn't noticed, I'm the daughter of the _Chief of Police_."

He snorted again. "Didn't look like one when you got drunk all those times."

"You know what, Jake? I'm getting out of the car, we're done," I said, opening the door and getting out, slamming it shut before I headed up the walkway.

Of course, I heard the sound of another door opening and closing, followed by the sound of sneakers slapping against the concrete before I felt a hand on my shoulder, turning me around to face him and, when I did, his lips were instantly on mine, his tongue diving into my mouth as if to remind me of the good times we had.

Placing my hands on his chest, I shoved him off of me, which was a hard feat considering he was a strong guy, and glared at me. "No, Jake."

"Bella, you loved me, I know you did. Why else did you insist on sleeping with me when I never brought it up? Or the fact that you gave me head _three weeks_ after we started going out?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "Come on, you know you loved me."

"Of course you're bringing up a lapse in judgment, Jake. Okay, sure, a lot of teen shows corrupted me and I felt that if I didn't sleep with you or pleasure you in some way, you'd leave. Yes, I moved hastily and yes, I did fall into bed with you too quick but that did _not _give you the right to even _think_ that I would agree to something as disgusting as a threesome. Why would you even _do _that?"

"Because Raoul and his boys owed me money and I owed Sam money!" he retorted before he closed his mouth with an audible snap, realizing that he made a _major _mistake.

"So you thought you'd _pimp me out_ for your benefit?" I asked. "If I wasn't so sure about dumping you before, I am now. We're done, Jake. I can't believe you thought that I was some piece of flesh you could hand over to anyone who asked. I hate to break it to you, Jake, but I am _not_ a prostitute or a whore."

He glared at me as he crossed his arms. "You're not a whore, huh? Then why do I have an inkling suspicion that you're leaving me for _someone else_? What does he have that I don't? A bigger dick? More money? Flashier car?"

"Everything isn't about _you_, okay? It's me! _I_ don't like you like that. You _used_ me like you could throw me around like a piece of meat. Jake, don't talk to me anymore, alright? We're done, we're through. As soon I go to Facebook I'm going to switch my relationship status to single because there is no one else. Our relationship _was _between you and I, and now, my relationship status is about _me_. If you don't like that, you can go to Hell," I said, turning on my heel as I fumbled for the key in my pocket, hoping that no one heard us.

As soon as I slid the key into the lock, I heard Jake give a low chuckle. "You're going to regret this, Bella. You'll eventually come back to me and plead for me to take you back, and guess what? I will, because I _know_ you're making a big mistake. Call me when you're done with your little fantasy, alright?"

Shaking my head, I opened up my front door and slammed it shut, causing the voices I heard in the living room to die down before I heard footsteps.

_Please don't be Mom and Dad_, I prayed as I locked the door, turning around to see Emmett walking through the doorway, a concerned expression on his face as he leaned against the door frame.

"Something wrong?" he asked. "Jake dump you? Want me to beat his ass?"

I shook my head again as I put on a smile. "No, no. I-I broke up with him."

"What?" he asked just as a shadow crept up behind him, a familiar blonde head appearing over his shoulder as she offered me a smile. "What did he do? If he hurt you, I swear to God I'll kill him."

"No, he didn't hurt me. It's just…something I needed to do. I've got to go up to my room, though," I said. "Hey, Rosalie, nice seeing you."

"Yeah, same here," she said as I walked up the stairs and, just as I opened my door, I heard a faint "you did the right thing!" Cocking my head to the side, I briefly wondered if Alice _told _Rose about us, and, with a sigh, I walked into my room and shut the door behind me, grabbing my laptop and flicking it open.

While I waited for Firefox to pop up, I played a hand of solitaire, winning the hand without need of backtracking. Once I noticed that Firefox had started up, I switched to it, smiling as I looked at the list of online friends. Alice was on, as was Emmett, so I guessed he was on via his Xbox or something, and, with a sigh, I went and switched my relationship status from "in a relationship" to "single".

Not a minute later and a chat box appeared belonging to, of course, Alice.

_So, I'm going to act like the super best friend, alright?_

I was about to reply to that when I noticed that she was still typing, so, while I waited for her to respond, I scrolled through my news feed and saw that Rosalie and Emmett had took a picture of themselves, posting it on the wall. There was one of Rose kissing Emmett's cheek, one of them kissing (which I never understood why people took pictures of themselves kissing for everyone to see) and another one of them cuddled together; that was Emmett's profile picture now.

A chime alerted me that Alice had responded and after shifting my gaze to the chat box, a small smile tugged on my lips.

_I'm so sorry, Bella. What happened? Was he a jackass? Did he dump you? Did he hurt you? Was it drugs? I wish it didn't have to end like this. I know you cared for him._

Rolling my eyes, I quickly typed up a reply. _You done now?_

_Yes, yes I am. So what happened?_

Taking a deep breath, I glanced at my clock, realizing that I should really study for the History test I had tomorrow. _Tell you tomorrow? I could come by your house and talk about it._

_Yeah, that sounds great._

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><p>As soon as we pulled into the parking lot, Alice's eyes lit up as she watched Emmett park the jeep close to Edward's Volvo, a smile growing on her lips before he cut off the engine. I noticed that Jake, who was about seven cars down the line, stood up and looked in our direction, his arms crossed as he stared.<p>

With a sigh, I opened the door and got out, walking up to everyone. "Hey," I said, waving at them.

Jasper and Riley were in the honeymoon phase, all smiles and hand-holding and making out in the halls, and they both said "hi" in synchronization before they headed towards the school building. Rose, of course, wrapped her arms around Emmett, not bothering to say hi back as she greeted him, before I heard someone clear their throat from behind me.

Turning around, I saw Jake standing behind me with an expectant look, his eyebrow raised as crossed his arms. "Can we _talk_?"

Pursing my lips, I glanced in Alice's direction and saw her purse her lips in response and, after I turned to look at Jake again, I nodded.

He led me towards his Mustang, leaning against the bumper as he looked at me. "Now, can you _please _tell me you're over your ridiculous little…idea that we don't belong together?"

"No," I said firmly, crossing my arms. "Jake, we're over. Get over it."

"No, I will not," he said, standing erect as he towered over me. "You don't get it, Bella. _I'm_ the best you're ever going to get, okay? I can buy you presents, I can get you _out_ of this tiny town. Come on, you can't honestly tell me you _enjoy_ this place, right?"

My lips twitched. I had to admit, Forks wasn't my favorite place; in fact, for the past two months I silently prayed that Dad would get a job offer somewhere else, _anywhere _else, but lately, I've been rethinking that decision, especially because of recent events. "Forks isn't _that_ bad. Besides," I started, glancing towards Alice's direction to see her talking to Kate while Edward looked at his Volvo lovingly. I swear, he should just change his Facebook status from "In a relationship with Kate" to "Married to my Volvo". "I like the people here," I continued as I turned to look at Jake.

Jake looked in the direction I had glanced at before he smirked. "Of course. You got a thing for Cullen, right?" I opened my mouth to protest but he only chuckled. "No, I get it. He's got that weird attractive thing with his hair and stuff, not to mention the fact that he's well off and could take you places."

_Oh_, I thought. _He must've thought I was looking at Edward and not Alice. Well, that was good…I guess_.

"But trust me when I say this, Bella. You'll regret dating him because he cares about his damn Volvo too much. I mean, yeah, I love my Mustang, but it's fucking _creepy_ to stare at it like it's your girlfriend," he let out another chuckle. "Trust me when I say this, Bella. You'll be crawling back to me after you learn that Eddie can't satisfy you."

"Trust me when I say this, Jake," I said, glaring at him, "we're done. Finished. Over. Can you try to get that through your thick skull so that I can head to History class? We've got a test in there and I'd really like to look over my notes." I didn't give him a chance to answer. I turned on my heel and headed for the building before I felt a hand on my wrist, pulling me back so that I was face to face with Jake. "Jacob," I warned, using his full name so that he knew I wasn't joking around.

"Just answer this," he said before he looked around us and whispered, "you won't tell anyone, right? Not even your dad? I _need _this, Bella. I'll quit once I have enough; means to an end and all that crap."

Pursing my lips I looked at him and could see how worried he was and, with a sigh, I nodded. "As long as you don't give me a reason to," I answered before I got my wrist from his grip and headed towards the building once more, glancing in Alice's direction to see that her lips were pursed and her hands cradled her book close to her chest as she watched me walk, obviously worried about me.

_I can already tell this is going to be a long day._

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><p><strong>AN: The long awaited break up many of you were anticipating. The next chapter will feature Alice and Bella. Alone. In Alice's bedroom. Talking.**

**:D**_  
><em>


	16. Chapter 16

**The Twilight Saga is the rightful property of Stephenie Meyer; I only take credit for my own ideas.**

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><p><strong>Chapter Sixteen<strong>

As soon as the final bell rang, I was glad to be out of my last class of the day because my recent ex happened to be in there with me. Yes, I will admit that I did watch him whenever he used his shirt to wipe sweat off his forehead, exposing his stomach to the crowd, but at least I had the decency to not swoon when he did (there were several female students who had to have a drink of water after this happened.) Jake, of course, tried to talk to me on more than one occasion but thankfully I was able to slip into the locker room before he could catch up to me.

While I changed out of my sweaty gym clothes, which I was going to take home to wash, since it had been awhile, I overheard some of the girls talking about me like I wasn't even in here with them.

"I can't believe _she _dumped him," one of them sneered, and I could tell they were in the next row of lockers, just behind the ones that I was in.

"Yeah, I know," another chuckled. "Who would dump _that_? I mean, did you _see_ his stomach? I could bake cookies on that thing."

"I bet he dumped her. I mean, _look_ at her. She's _ugly _as _fuck_."

Slamming my locker door shut, I made sure that I glared at them as I passed their row of lockers before I headed out of the locker room, only to find that my ears had picked up on another conversation that was happening around the corner. I slowed down and peered around the corner to see Rose and Alice talking, Rose had her arms crossed and her eyebrow raised while Alice pursed her lips.

"Why do you even care about what we're going to do?" Alice asked, whispering. "You don't even know what's going to happen. She's just coming over after school to talk about her breakup, that's all."

"Because I know you, Alice, and I know what you look like when you're excited about something," Rosalie said before she sighed, uncrossing her arms so that she could place her hands on Alice's shoulders. "I don't want to see you heartbroken again, alright? Don't get your hopes up; I know how much of a crush you have on her but you can't hope for the best."

"I know, Rose but…I just…I _really _like her," Alice breathed out.

Rose nodded. "I know you do, Alice. I better get going. Emmett was going to take me out somewhere and I need to meet up with him. Good luck Alice and I hope it goes the way you want it to."

"Yeah, same here," Alice said before she hugged her.

I waited until Rose walked away before I took a deep breath and rounded the corner, feigning surprise when Alice turned to me. "Wow, you waited outside the locker rooms for me, I'm touched."

"So you should be," she said before she stuck her tongue out at me. "Actually, Edward wanted me to walk you out to his car because…well, I don't know. I just think he doesn't want to get stuck as our chauffeur again."

"Yeah, I doubt he wants that," I chuckled. "So, are we going to go?"

"Yeah, come on," Alice said, leading me through the halls. Jessica and Lauren were gossiping by their lockers and Jessica sneered as she looked at me before she turned to her blonde friend.

"I bet Bella dumped Jake to be with Alice," she whispered. "I always knew Alice would eventually turn her. It was just a matter of time."

Lauren nodded at her side. "I agree. I mean, they didn't talk for two months and now they're friends again? Something is fishy."

Running a hand through my hair, I ignored their jabs as Alice and I walked out of the school, heading towards Edward's Volvo as he sat patiently in the front seat. The ride was quiet as we drove, but Edward played something classical to make it feel not that silent, before we ended up in their driveway.

When I got out of the car, Alice motioned towards the door and I nodded. We headed up to her room as Edward stayed in the living room, flipping the tv to who knows what, before Alice locked the door behind us.

"So what happened?" she asked as we sat down on her bed. "Did he hurt you?"

I shook my head. "No, it's just…a combination of things. I can't really talk about them, but part of the problem is that while I was kissing him I wished I was kissing you."

Her lips twitched before they tugged upwards. "Really?"

I nodded. "Really."

"Does that mean you _liked _kissing me?"

"I told you before that I did and…I mean, I'm pretty sure that means I've got feelings for you," I said. "And I'm single now, so, well, I'll see where things go."

Alice smiled again before she reached over with her right hand, caressing the side of my face before she leaned in and captured my lips with her own. I couldn't help but smile against the kiss, and, even as slow and chaste as it was, it was definitely better than Jake's rough tongue inside my mouth.

When we pulled apart, Alice looked up at me with a spark in her eyes. "I think…we need to talk about what this is."

"Yeah," I nodded. "I don't want to seem like a slut by going from one person to another and…"

"Trust me, Bella. It's high school. Once they learn you're dating me, you're going be called all sorts of names. Slut is just one of them," she said before a blush slowly crept across her cheeks. "Um, if you date me, that is."

"I was about to say, when had I started dating you?" I teased with a chuckle, only I stopped laughing when I noticed her bite her lip. "What's wrong?"

She let out a sigh. "I just really want to date you, Bella. I _really _like you."

"I know you do," I whispered as I reached over and placed my hand on her knee, giving her a small smile.

"No, I don't think you understand, Bella," she said, standing up and walking towards her closet, her back to me as she searched for _something_ in there, tossing clothes behind her and hitting me in the face with one of her shirts. I didn't mind, though; it smelt like her.

She stopped tossing clothes in my direction and slowly turned around; holding what looked like a notebook before she took a deep breath and walked back towards the bed, sitting next to me. "I think…in order for you to grasp the concept of what I'm trying to say, I have to _show _you."

Her fingers grazed the side of the notebook before she sighed and flipped it open to the first page. At first I didn't understand, but as I looked at the drawing, I realized what it was.

It was me, smiling with my hand resting on my cheek, my hair in a ponytail. She flipped through, page by page, showing me the multitude of drawings inside of it, and I was in complete awe.

Never had I thought of myself as beautiful, but the way Alice had drawn me, from several different positions, sitting down, laughing, crying, you name it, I _believed_ it. She had a way with her pencil that could capture radiance where you wouldn't normally find it, causing plain and ordinary people to look like…beautiful creatures.

"This is…wow…" I said as I reached over to flip to the next page, but Alice placed her hand firmly on the notebook, a little blush growing on her cheeks before she shook her head.

"The next few pictures are a little risqué," she admitted before closing the notebook altogether.

My brows furrowed in confusion as I tried to get the meaning of her words. Risqué? What did she mean by ris—oh, she meant like…okay. "I see."

"Do you?" she asked. "Ever since you arrived to Forks I just…I was always happier when you were around and I just felt like drawing you. It may sound weird, but even when I was supposed to draw landscapes or still life, it would somehow end up as a portrait of you. I guess what I'm trying to say is…it would sound weird but I need to get it out in the open and—"

Okay, so maybe I was pushing myself with the whole "I can get her to stop talking by kissing her" thing, but really, she was being kind of stupid right now.

When I pulled back, Alice's eyes were lingering on my lips before they looked back up towards my eyes, a hint of desire flashing in her emerald eyes. "Don't say it. If you say it, I'm going to want to say it, and when I want to say it, I want it to be true."

She nodded. "Where does that leave us, then?"

I shrugged. "Where do you want it to leave us?"

"Honestly?" she breathed out with a sigh before she licked her lips, placing her hands on mine as she looked at me. "I want us to be together, and I know you said that you weren't ready to get with someone right after a break up but…Bella, I can wait for you. No, I can wait _with _you. I don't care if we're behind closed doors or not, as long as you're mine I promise I'll treat you the way you should be treated, with respect and I promise I won't treat you like something I could easily find on the street corner."

"I—I don't know what to say…" I trailed off before I bit my lip. She was asking me to be her girlfriend, even if that meant it was going to be behind closed doors. I knew Alice was out and proud, but she was willing to let me, basically, hide in the closet until I was ready?

"Just," Alice started as she squeezed my hands, giving me the most _adorable _look ever, "just say yes. Please."

A smile grew on my lips before I leaned in and pressed them to hers, feeling her smile against the kiss as her hand reached up to the nape of my neck, entangling itself in my hair as she scooted closer, our knees brushing against one another. Slowly I parted my lips, my tongue inching closer to her lips and I slid it against her bottom one slowly, eliciting a small moan from her mouth.

She tasted good, like strawberries, and her tongue slowly peeked out of her mouth and greeted mine before it retreated back into the confines of her mouth. She pulled back but her hand was still on my neck, her eyes showing she wanted _more_ as she shook her head.

"We can't…we can't go too far," she breathed. "At least, not yet."

I nodded. "I understand."

"I want to take my time with you," she whispered as she pulled her right hand back but let it rest on my cheek, her thumb tracing the part of my cheekbone under my eye. "I know that you and Jake went into the physical side of your relationship early and, although I would definitely enjoy it, I want our relationship to be based on more than just sex."

"Yeah," I exhaled, "I agree."

"So you also agree that we're in a relationship?" Alice asked and, when I nodded she took a deep breath and continued. "Well, you could, in a couple weeks, put something up on Facebook that says you're in a relationship, but you don't have to announce who."

I shook my head. "No, when I change my relationship status, I want to be able to say who it is, but…" I bit my lip and looked down at her hardwood floor.

What _was_ I? Was I bisexual? Was I straight but open to being attracted to, or falling in love with, girls? I couldn't wrap my head around it. I mean, yeah, I knew I had stated that I was straight but if I had fallen in love with a girl, I wouldn't fight it, but I _never _thought it would actually happen.

Yet here I was, sitting in Alice's bedroom minutes after we had kissed _more than one _time.

"But what?" she asked, rubbing my cheek again. "You're having second thoughts."

"No, no," I said, shaking my head. "I just…I'm not sure what that entails. I mean…I'm not sure what it says about me."

"Not everyone has a label," Alice murmured. "Besides, if it bothers you that much, you could just call yourself an Alice-sexual." She furrowed her brow. "Or maybe Ali-sexual. Yeah, that sounds better."

I chuckled. "Okay then, I'm an Ali-sexual."

"Let's hope you're one for a _looong _time," she said, stretching the word before she reached over to press her lips to my own, smiling against the kiss as I wrapped my arms around her waist, falling onto her bed.

If being an Ali-sexual meant that I could share chaste kisses with Alice on her bed, then I was the biggest Ali-sexual in the universe.

And I wasn't complaining.

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><p><strong>AN: I'm sorry for the lack of update in awhile, but I hope this makes up for it. :D Bella and Alice are together, so to speak.**

**Next chapter we go two months into the future. How far will their relationship have progressed? What steps lie ahead? Will there be anything to try and step between them? Find out next time on the next installment of Optical Illusion!**

**...Okay, that was cheesy, but I hope I see you all next time. :)**


	17. Chapter 17

**The Twilight Saga is the rightful property of Stephenie Meyer. I only take credit for my own ideas.**

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><p><strong>Chapter Seventeen<strong>

"Alice," I hissed as she moved her mouth to my neck, her hands trailing up my back as she nibbled at my skin.

She only let out a giggle in between the nips and bites she placed onto my neck before I felt her tongue slide against my skin, causing a shiver to roll down my spine.

"Alice," I hissed once more, "my parents are down stairs."

"So?" she murmured before she bit my skin again.

God damn it, that girl…

"Emmett could be in the bathroom," I said before I groaned as Alice slipped her hand under my shirt, running her hand up my back, causing it to break out in goose bumps under her touch.

"And?" she pressed.

"Seriously, Alice, we really need to get ready to leave for school in ten minutes," I said, though even in my tone you could tell I did _not _want this to stop. The way she grazed the skin of my neck with her teeth caused me to shiver and, dare I say it, got me somewhat wet whenever I thought about what we did in my bedroom or in her bedroom.

Suddenly, a loud banging on my bedroom door caused us to both freeze before I sat up, Alice slipping her hands out of my shirt as we looked at the door. "Come on, you two," Emmett sounded before he chuckled, "we need to get to school. I want to ask Rosie what she wants to do for Valentine's Day."

"Give us…two minutes," I said to the door before I turned to her, noticing that Alice had her lips pressed together to form a fine line. "What's wrong?" I asked her as I placed my hand on her knee, squeezing it slightly.

She shook her head. "It's nothing. Come on," she said with a smile as she stood up. "Let's get ready before Emmett breaks down the door and catches us doing something I _know _you don't want him to see."

I watched as she walked towards her backpack, pursing my lips as she grabbed a toothbrush and toothpaste before she walked into my bathroom, closing the door behind her.

Sighing, I glanced at the calendar on my desk and looked at the date; February 12th. Alice and I had been dating behind closed doors for over two months now, and I know that she's probably getting tired of hiding her affections for me.

I also knew she was too nice to say that out loud.

Running a hand through my hair I stood up and grabbed my backpack, slinging it over my shoulder as I waited for my best friend turned girlfriend to walk out of the bathroom. When she did, she stuffed her toothpaste and toothbrush into her bag before she looked at me with a smile.

"Ready?" she asked.

I nodded before I opened my bedroom door, after unlocking it, and walked down the stairs just in time to see Dad hand Mom a bouquet of roses. _Aww._

"The old man still has it," Emmett commented as he appeared at the base of the steps, leaning against the railing as I stepped onto the bottom step. "Might want to take romance lessons from him," Emmett teased before chuckling.

"Oh, hush, Emmett," Mom said as she looked at her roses, a slight blush on her cheek. "Thank you, Charlie. You sure know the way to a woman's heart."

"To yours I do," Dad chuckled before he pressed his lips to her cheek. "I know I'm early, but I'm going to be busy the next couple of days. There is some suspicious activity in Seattle and they asked me to go down and check it out."

"What kind of suspicious activity?" Mom asked.

Dad shrugged. "Drugs, mostly. They think they found a group of users and they want someone who isn't marked with the Seattle Police Department to check it out in case they know what the officers look like."

"So you'll be in your civilian?" Mom asked and, when Dad nodded, she sighed. "Please tell me you'll be carrying your gun with you. I can't imagine you going into a drug situation unarmed."

Dad chuckled. "Of course I will, honey. I'm smarter than that."

"You sure?" Emmett asked before Dad turned to him with a glare. "Come on girls, let's go to school," Emmett chuckled under his breath as he ushered us out the front door.

Once we were in the Jeep, the ride was filled with texts between Alice and I while Emmett rapped to whatever he was listening to because, let's be honest, most of the stuff he listened to was shit.

Rosalie was already standing in the parking lot as Emmett pulled into it, a smile growing on his lips before he found a parking spot. Alice and I just looked at each other, her hand reaching over to touch mine briefly before we opened our doors and greeted Rosalie.

"Hey Rose," we said simultaneously, a smile on our lips.

Rose pursed her lips but soon shook her head and smiled. "Hey. How was the sleepover?"

_Full of kisses. _"It was good. I'm surprised my parents were okay with letting her stay the night on a school night," I said with a shrug.

Alice nodded. "Yeah, we got to do a lot of our homework, which was good, because you know we have tests coming up."

"Which sucks," I groaned, agreeing with Alice. "Too many tests; makes my brain hurt."

"It also helps you become smarter," Rose said, raising an eyebrow at me. "You _do_ want to be smarter, right?"

I rolled my eyes at her. "Yeah, yeah. Where's your brother?"

She shrugged. "He and Riley went ahead inside because they wanted to trade off gifts early. We should probably go in, though. It _is_ February."

We nodded and followed her inside and as we walked, Alice's hand brushed against mine. When I looked in her direction, her lips curled into a small smile before they tugged downwards. Furrowing my brow in confusion, I looked down the hall to see Jake leaning against a row of lockers, holding a rose in his hand as he looked at me.

Rose stopped. "I thought you got rid of him?" she asked, turning to me.

Alice did the same thing, only she crossed her arms and raised her eyebrow. "Are you back together?"

"What? No!" I said, giving her a look so that she _knows_ I wasn't with him. Heck, we were making out just an hour ago! "He probably just wants us to get back together, because it's the holiday of love, you know?"

"Mmm," Alice hummed, glancing down the hall. "Well, I'll see you in second period," she said. "Have fun," were her parting words before she and Rose turned around a corner, disappearing from my sight.

Jake smiled when he noticed I was alone and used his finger to motion me forward. With a sigh I reluctantly walked down the hall, my hands in my coat pockets before I stopped in front of him.

"Jake, I'm not taking you back," I said, looking at the rose in his hand. "Besides, it's not even Valentine's Day."

"Yeah, I know," he said with a nod before he shrugged. "I just, you know, thought it would be nice to give you a rose before I asked you out. Come on, I'll take you out to La Bella Italia again."

"No, Jake." I shook my head at him. "I'm not just saying no because our last date at La Bella Italia ended up with us breaking up, but because I _don't_ want to go out with you. I've kept quiet about the whole…thing you do for money, but that does _not_ mean I want to get back together. Besides I'm kind of…" I scratched the back of my neck. "I'm kind of seeing someone right now."

His forehead creased as his brows knitted together in confusion. "You are? I haven't seen you hanging around any guys and you are still single on Facebook."

"We aren't exclusive right now," I sighed, "but…we might be…soon."

Alice would probably be thrilled with that. I know she's getting tired of hiding in the dark.

"Oh," Jake said, his face dropping a bit as he lowered the rose in his hand. "Well, I hope you're happy with him. You deserve someone who makes you happy. Does he…does he make you happy?"

"Yeah," _she does_, I added mentally, "very much so."

"Well, that's…good, I guess," Jake reached up to scratch the back of his neck. "I'll…uh…walk you to History?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I'd like that."

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><p>"Rasper Bale? What the fuck is that?" Rosalie asked with a chuckle as I sat down in my seat next to Alice. Rose was holding a dog tag that hung around Jasper's neck, causing her brother to lean closer to her as she read it. "Some band you're going to form?"<p>

"Haha, no," Jasper said, rolling his eyes as he grabbed the dog tags from his sister's hand.

"Isn't it obvious?" Alice asked. "It's clear that it's Jasper and Riley's couple name. You know, like how they have ship names for people on Glee. Puckleberry, Finchel, Quick…the list goes on and on. Rasper Bale is just a mix of Jasper Hale and Riley Biers."

Riley chuckled. "Thank you. I was trying to be clever with that. I figured I would put the date underneath, so that we'd know the date that Rasper Bale was born."

"Ain't my boy sweet," Jasper smiled before he pressed his lips to Riley's.

This, unfortunately, didn't go unnoticed by the jocks.

"Take a hike, fags!" Felix yelled.

I wanted to go over and slap him. That was his ex-girlfriend's brother he was talking about; he could at least show _some_ decency. Wait, I forgot; he was Felix.

Still, it made me wonder…was it going to be that bad when I decided to announce my relationship with Alice? Were people going to throw gay slurs my way just because I fell in love with my best friend who just so happened to be a girl?

I felt a slight pressure on my left knee and I looked over to see Alice giving me a small apologetic smile, almost as if she knew what I was thinking.

"It'll be okay," she mouthed.

I sighed and looked at my tray, realizing that…maybe…it would be okay. Yes, Forks was a small town but…this _was_ 2011. Weren't people getting over their prejudices?

Sadly, watching the way Felix and his jock friends snickered, I realized some people were just jerks.

"Guys," I started, looking up from my tray, "I have something to say."

"Well, what is it?" Seth asked, his right hand on his fries while his left one was on the table, Angela's hand on top of it.

Pursing my lips, I looked at Alice and she looked at me with curiosity and…something else in her eyes, and, running a hand through my hair, I looked back at my tray, afraid of what they think.

"Alice and I are together…like a couple," I said as I picked at my chicken, waiting for them to say something. When a minute had passed and they remained silent, I looked up to see that most of them had an amused expression plastered on their face. "What?" I asked.

Rose and Jasper looked at each other as Riley scratched the back of his neck, Angela and Seth just looked at their food with their lips pursed before Rose sighed and looked at me.

"We've kind of figured it out," she said before she shrugged. "It didn't really surprise us. Most of us knew about Alice's…crush on you."

"She was a bit…torn up after you started to date Jake," Jasper added. "Once you broke up with Jake, we noticed that Alice was more chipper than her usual self. We knew something was up."

"We're glad you're finally deciding to tell us, though," Riley said with a smile on his lips. "How long?"

I looked to Alice and she only shrugged. "A little over two months, actually."

"Yeah, I figured it had been awhile," Riley chuckled. "Bella, you might want to…er…look in the mirror before you leave for school. You have a little…something on your neck."

After he said that, almost everyone laughed. I didn't know what they were talking about so I turned to Alice and she handed me a mirror, her lips pursed but you could see mirth swirling in her emerald eyes.

I lifted the mirror in front of me and positioned it so that I could see my neck, and there, on the right side where Alice had been biting at my skin earlier, was a hickey. "Alice!" I hissed, glaring at her.

Everyone laughed and I knew that things hadn't changed between any of us now that they "knew" Alice and I were a couple.

The thing I cared about the most was…would my life at home change?

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><p><strong>AN: I wanted to get this out faster than I had, but unfortunately, school got in the way. It started on Monday and I've been getting busier. Darn school for cutting into my writing time.**

**Yeah, I flash-forward a couple months, but that's so we can get to the good stuff and see how much of a jerk Jake is to Bella in the future. Next chapter gets pretty emotional. I teared up a bit when I wrote the Bella/Emmett scene.**


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